Stock-based Compensation PlansThe Corporation administers a number of equity compensation plans, with awards being granted predominantly from the Bank of America Corporation Equity Plan (BACEP). Under this plan, 990 million shares of the Corporation’s common stock are authorized to be used for grants of awards.
During 2025 and 2024, the Corporation granted 107 million and 121 million RSUs to certain employees under the BACEP. 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. The RSUs granted in 2025 and 2024 predominantly vest over four years in one-fourth increments on each of the first four 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 2025 and 2024, 38 million and 42 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 $4.2 billion, $3.6 billion and $3.1 billion, and the related income tax benefit was $1.0 billion, $872 million and $733 million for 2025, 2024 and 2023, respectively. At December 31, 2025, there was an estimated $4.7 billion of total unrecognized compensation cost related to certain share-based compensation awards that is expected to be recognized generally over a period of up to 4 years, with a weighted-average period of 2.5 years.
Restricted Stock and Restricted Stock Units
The total fair value of restricted stock and restricted stock units vested in 2025, 2024 and 2023 was $4.0 billion, $2.6 billion and $2.6 billion, respectively. The following table presents the status at December 31, 2025 of the share-settled restricted stock and restricted stock units and changes during 2025.
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | |
| Stock-settled Restricted Stock and Restricted Stock Units |
| | | |
| Shares/Units | | Weighted-
average Grant Date Fair Value |
| Outstanding at January 1, 2025 | 265,023,664 | | | $ | 35.43 | |
| Granted | 103,500,953 | | | 45.25 | |
| Vested | (87,590,322) | | | 36.76 | |
| Canceled | (10,393,790) | | | 39.63 | |
| Outstanding at December 31, 2025 | 270,540,505 | | | 38.60 | |
About Stock Compensation Disclosures
Stock-based compensation disclosures detail the equity awards granted to employees and executives — including stock options, restricted stock units (RSUs), and performance shares — along with the valuation methods and assumptions used to expense them. This section reveals the true cost of talent retention and the alignment between management incentives and shareholder interests.
Key signals: total unrecognized compensation expense and its expected recognition period signal future earnings headwinds from already-granted awards. For stock options, examine Black-Scholes assumptions — expected volatility, risk-free rate, and expected term — as understating any of these reduces reported compensation expense. Compare stock compensation expense as a percentage of revenue against peers to assess dilution cost. Watch vesting schedules for acceleration clauses tied to change-of-control events. Performance-based awards with undemanding targets may indicate weak governance. Add back stock compensation to operating cash flow to calculate a more conservative free cash flow figure.