Simon Dawson/Bloomberg News

Brian T. Moynihan, chief executive of Bank of America, earned $8.1 million in 2011, a sharp increase from the $1.9 million payout he received in 2010.

Last year was a turbulent transition for the bank, the second-largest in the United States after JPMorgan Chase, with Bank of America shares dropping below the psychologically important $5 level at one point. During his second year leading the bank, Mr. Moynihan aggressively sold off noncore assets and built up capital levels. Investors have rewarded the strategy more recently, with the stock up sharply in 2012, currently trading at just under $10 a share.

Mr. Moynihan was not the highest paid executive cited in a proxy filing from the bank on Wednesday. Tom Montag, co-chief operating officer of the company and the head of Bank of America Merrill Lynch, earned more than $14 million. Bruce Thompson, the chief financial officer and a close ally of Mr. Moynihan’s, made more than $11 million.

Most of Mr. Moynihan’s pay — $6.1 million — was in the form of stock grants that vest only if the company meets performance yardsticks over the next three years. Another $950,000 comes in the form of cash compensation, in addition to $420,524 in other pay, including for flights on company aircraft. In addition, $604,698 in pay stemmed from an increase in the value of pension assets.

According to Bank of America’s board, which calculates pay in terms of the year the incentive stock is earned rather than when the award itself is made, like the Securities and Exchange Commission does, Mr. Moynihan’s pay actually dropped 30 percent in 2011, to $7 million.

Bank of America shares have rallied partly on optimism about the outlook for the United States economy, as well as in the wake of the bank’s passing the recently completed stress tests ordered by the Federal Reserve. Unlike other competitors, like Citigroup, Bank of America did not try to raise its dividend or buyback stock, preferring to retain capital as part of Mr. Moynihan’s call to build a “fortress balance sheet.”