Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Stock-based Compensation Plans

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Stock-based Compensation Plans
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2021
Share-based Payment Arrangement [Abstract]  
Stock-based Compensation Plans Stock-based Compensation Plans
The Corporation administers a number of equity compensation plans, with awards being granted predominantly from the Bank of America Key Employee Equity Plan (KEEP). On April 20, 2021, Bank of America’s shareholders approved the amendment and restatement of the KEEP, changing its name to the “Bank of America Corporation Equity Plan” and increasing the number of shares available for grant by 115 million. Subsequent to the amendment and restatement, 715 million shares of the Corporation’s common stock are authorized to be used for grants of awards under this plan.
During 2021 and 2020, the Corporation granted 99 million and 86 million RSU awards to certain employees under the KEEP. These RSUs were authorized to settle predominantly in shares of common stock of the Corporation. Certain RSUs will be settled in cash or contain settlement provisions that subject these awards to variable accounting whereby compensation expense is adjusted to fair value based on changes in the share price of the Corporation’s common stock up to the settlement date. Of the RSUs granted in 2021 and 2020, 81 million and 29 million will generally vest over four years and 18 million and 57 million will vest over three years. The four-year awards vest primarily in one-fourth increments on each of the first four anniversaries of the grant date while the three-year awards vest primarily in one-third increments on each of the first three anniversaries of the grant date, provided that the employee remains continuously employed with the Corporation during that time, and will be expensed ratably over the vesting period, net of estimated forfeitures, for non-retirement eligible employees based on the grant-date fair value of the shares. Of the RSUs granted in 2021 and 2020 that vest over four years, 27 million and 25 million do not include retirement eligibility. For all other RSUs granted to employees who are retirement eligible, they are deemed authorized as of the beginning of the year preceding the grant date when the incentive award plans are generally approved. As a result, the estimated value is expensed ratably over the year preceding the grant date. The compensation cost for the stock-based plans was $3.0 billion, $2.1 billion and $2.1 billion, and the related income tax benefit was $723 million, $505 million and $511 million for 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively. At December 31, 2021, there was an estimated $2.3 billion of total unrecognized compensation cost related to certain share-based compensation awards that is expected to be recognized over a period of up to four years, with a weighted-average period of 2.4 years.
Restricted Stock and Restricted Stock Units
The total fair value of restricted stock and restricted stock units vested in 2021, 2020 and 2019 was $2.3 billion, $2.3 billion and $2.6 billion, respectively. The table below presents the status at December 31, 2021 of the share-settled restricted stock and restricted stock units and changes during 2021.
 Stock-settled Restricted Stock and Restricted Stock Units
Shares/Units Weighted-
average Grant Date Fair Value
Outstanding at January 1, 2021 167,953,229  $ 30.60 
Granted 96,804,487  32.32 
Vested (69,337,350) 30.19 
Canceled (10,369,524) 32.58 
Outstanding at December 31, 2021 185,050,842  31.54 
Cash-settled Restricted Units
At December 31, 2021, approximately two million cash-settled restricted units remain outstanding. In 2021, 2020 and 2019, the amount of cash paid to settle the RSUs that vested was $72 million, $81 million and $84 million, respectively.