BofA has not discussed CEO package with Feinberg

Kenneth Feinberg, special master for executive compensation under the Troubled Asset Relief Program at the Treasury Department, speaks at the Reuters Global Finance Summit in New York, November 16, 2009.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. pay czar Kenneth Feinberg has not spoken with Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) about a possible pay package for whoever replaces retiring Chief Executive Ken Lewis, the government-appointed special master said on Monday.

The company's search for a new CEO is now in its second month, and fears about pay limits for the job, curbed by the pay czar, are causing potential candidates to shy away from the job.

"I've had no role whatsoever to play in any way, shape or form in that search," Feinberg told the Reuters Global Finance Summit in New York.

He said he has no views on an explicit pay cap for Bank of America's new CEO.

A Bank of America spokesman declined comment.

Feinberg is tasked with reviewing the pay policies for the highest-paid employees at seven U.S. companies that received the largest federal bailouts, including Bank of America.

The mechanics are unclear as to how a company like Bank of America would seek to get a new chief executive's pay package approved by Feinberg, formally known as the U.S. special master on compensation.

Feinberg said he can either review a pay package for the new CEO alongside the bank's search, or do so after an agreement is reached.

"There's not a whole lot of precedent about this," he said.

Feinberg has completed only one new CEO contract review, approving up to $10 million in pay for new American International Group Inc (AIG.N) Chief Executive Robert Benmosche when he was hired August 4.

Benmosche's contract was reviewed, and approved, before he was publicly announced as the insurance giant's chief executive, Feinberg said.

Various media outlets have reported financial sector executives are hesitant to take Bank of America's top job, in part because of fears the pay will be lower than at comparable positions in the financial industry.

(Reporting by Joe Rauch and Elinor Comlay; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)