Bank of America pays Mukesh Ambani Rs 1.3 cr as director pay

Amabni to relinquish the position next month to join BofA's non-fiduciary global advisory council

Indian billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani has got paid $240,000 (about Rs 1.3 crore) as director compensation for 2012 by global banking giant Bank of America -- a position he would relinquish next month.

Ambani, who heads India's leading business conglomerate Reliance Industries group, was paid a higher compensation of $276,816 by the bank in the previous year, 2011.

Ambani joined Bank of America's board as an independent director in March 2011, but would step down from this position at the company's next Annual Meeting of shareholders on May 8.

The US-based banking major announced last month that Ambani would step down as a director and join its new, non-fiduciary global advisory council.

The bank has disclosed the compensation paid to Ambani and other details in a notice circulated to its shareholders ahead of their Annual Meeting on May 8.

The bank also said that Ambani and five other directors currently on its board would not seek re-election at the Annual Meeting and would be replaced by new members on its board. The shareholders have been asked to ratify the changes.

As per the shareholder notice, a copy of which has been filed with the US markets regulator SEC as well, Ambani's compensation for 2012 included $80,000 as 'fees earned or paid in cash' and $160,000 as stock awards.

In comparison, Ambani got fees worth $92,282 in cash and $184,534 through stock awards in 2011 -- taking his total compensation for that year to $276,816.

As on March 13, 2013, Ambani held a total of 31,265 shares of the bank, which have been given so far to him as part of his director compensation.

As RIL Chairman, Ambani's remuneration is not known as yet for the last fiscal 2012-13 that ended last month. Prior to this, Ambani's remuneration at RIL has remained unchanged at Rs 15 crore for four consecutive years till 2011-12.

The bank said that its board held 13 meetings in 2012, and each of its current directors attended at least 75% of the aggregate meetings of board and the committees on which they served, except for Ambani.

Ambani is a member on the Credit Committee and the Compensation and Benefits Committee of its board.

In further disclosures about its dealings with businesses associated to Ambani and other independent directors, Bank of America said admitted to having provided "banking products or services, including markets, commercial credit, investment banking, managed investments, personal products and treasury services, in the ordinary course, to" Reliance Industries (RIL) and other such companies.

However, the fees received from each of these companies, including RIL, were within the prescribed thresholds applicable for independent directors and were less than 2% of its consolidated gross annual revenues, the bank said.

It made a similar disclosure about business with Reliance Group, headed by Mukesh's younger brother Anil Ambani.