By Becky Yerak | Amcore Financial Inc., which is among seven undercapitalized local banks
for which banking regulators are seeking bidders, paid $736,000 to its
chairman and chief executive in 2009, about half of what he made in
2008.

William McManaman, an Amcore board member who stepped into the CEO role
in February 2008, received a salary of $580,000 in 2009, up from
$484,000 in 2008.

He received a bonus in 2009 of $1,633 per the terms of his offer letter for an equivalent 401(K) company match for 2009. That’s down from $526,000 in 2008, accounting for most of the drop in his total compensation.

No base pay raises will be granted in 2010, according to the company proxy filed late Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Rockford-based company’s stock is trading at 50 cents a share, near the low end of a 52-week trading range of 36 cents to $2.27 a share.

Amcore, which has about 9,000 shareholders, has about 70 branches. It lost $224 million in 2009.

To read the proxy, click here.