BofA to pay mortgage head more than CEO got in '07

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp (BAC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) agreed to pay David Sambol, COO of takeover target Countrywide Corp (CFC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) $28 million, considerably more than its own CEO received in 2007, to lead the bank's consumer mortgage business.

The pay, which vests over three years, is 37 percent higher than the $20.4 million Bank of America Chairman and Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis was compensated in 2007 to run the second largest U.S. bank.

Bank of America disclosed the amount in a filing on Thursday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

"To me, it meant that they really need him and that they have no one else who could handle the job," said Alan Johnson, compensation consultant at Johnson Associates, Inc. "It shows that BofA is making a serious effort to make a go of it."

Paul Sorbera a president at Alliance Consulting said: "Compensation always reflects a company's level of commitment. This deal shows BofA is very much interested in keeping CFC's business intact and maximizing and monetizing the value of the franchise."

Sambol, who is also Countrywide's president, was named in January to run the mortgage business after Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America completes its purchase of the largest U.S. mortgage lender. That transaction was valued Thursday at about $4.1 billion.

According to the filing, Sambol would be entitled to a $20 million retention bonus payable in equal installments on the first and second anniversaries of the merger, which is expected to close in the third quarter.

Sambol would also receive $8 million of restricted stock, vesting in three installments on the first, second and third anniversaries of the merger, the filing shows.