Fifth Third Bancorp Inc. will not seek the return of a $300,000 signing bonus that its chief legal officer, now the Trump administration's nominee to fill a key financial regulatory post, secured when she joined the bank this year, according to newly disclosed ethics records.

Jelena McWilliams, Fifth Third's top lawyer since January, said in an ethics pledge that the Ohio-based bank “determined that I would not be required to repay any portion of the signing bonus.” McWilliams made that pledge on Nov. 30, the same day the Trump administration announced its plans to nominate her to lead the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Jelena McWilliams.

In a separate filing, McWilliams reported her Fifth Third salary at $182,500, and she said she expects to receive a year-end bonus of between $250,000 and $500,000. Her publicly released financial disclosure is posted here.

The commercial banking sector is among the 10 best-paying industries for general counsel, according to an annual survey ALM Legal Intelligence conducts on pay. Legal recruiter Major, Lindsey & Africa's latest in-house counsel compensation report—including general counsel and chief legal officers—showed base salaries increase slightly more than 1 percent—and bonuses surge upward of nearly 40 percent.

McWilliams agreed to refrain for two years to not “participate personally and substantially in any particular matter involving specific parties in which I know Fifth Third Bank is a party or represents a party” unless she first obtains a waiver.

Trump in late November announced his intent to nominate McWilliams to replace Martin Gruenberg as chief of the agency. McWilliams' confirmation hearing in the Senate banking committee has not been set.

Before joining Fifth Third Bancorp, McWilliams had served as a top lawyer for U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Alabama, during his tenure as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. McWilliams is one of several former Shelby aides who have come under consideration for top regulatory jobs during the Trump presidency.

As the The Wall Street Journal reported this week, some lobbyists jokingly refer to those former aides as the “Shelby mafia.”

Among the other Shelby alumni who've caught the Trump administration's eye are Hester Peirce, a senior research fellow at George Mason University's Mercatus Center nominated for an open seat on the Securities and Exchange Commission, and Mark Calabria, the chief economist for Vice President Mike Pence. Calabria has been raised as a possible pick for top roles at the Federal Housing Finance Agency or the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Peirce was initially nominated by President Barack Obama for an open Republican seat on the SEC. Before joining Pence's staff, Calabria was director of financial regulation studies at the Cato Institute.

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