Fresh off repaying U.S. taxpayers, PNC Financial Services Group

said on Thursday it gave Chief Executive James Rohr an $18 million pay package for 2009, according to a regulatory filing.

Rohr did not get a bonus in 2009 because of restrictions on executives of bailed-out banks. His pay includes $11.8 million in stock and options awards, $3.2 million in deferred pension earnings and a base salary of $2.75 million.

Rohr's compensation jumped by nearly half in 2009, up from $12.2 million in 2008.

The board's decision reflects PNC's strong performance in the face of a difficult economy and the largest bank integration in the company's history, said PNC spokesman Fred Solomon, referring to PNC's acquisition of National City.

Pittsburgh-based PNC was part of a series of large banks that have repaid money they received from the U.S. Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) as a way of getting free of government restrictions on dividend payments, share repurchases and compensation that came with the money.

PNC received $7.6 billion in the bailout and repaid it in February.

Executive pay in the financial services industry has been a hot-button topic since U.S. taxpayers committed billions of dollars to rescuing the banking industry in 2008.

The Obama administration appointed Washington lawyer Kenneth Feinberg as pay czar, overseeing compensation at the biggest bailout recipients.

PNC was not under Feinberg's immediate jurisdiction, but records obtained by Reuters show that PNC leaders, including Rohr, were scheduled to meet with Feinberg last August.

Solomon declined to comment on the meeting, saying PNC doesn't discuss its contacts with regulators.

PNC shares have rallied in the past year. Shares traded at $59 on Thursday, more than double what they traded for a year ago.

(Reporting by Steve Eder. Editing by Robert MacMillan)