CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- First Union Corp., the nation's sixth-largest bank, paid Chairman Edward Crutchfield $16.4 million in 1998 as its earnings for the year rose 27 percent to $3.7 billion.

Crutchfield, 57, received a salary of $1.14 million in 1998 and a bonus of $2.28 million, both up 11.2 percent from 1997, according to the company's proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday.

Crutchfield also received a $2 million restricted stock award and 400,844 options valued at $7.66 million. He received $427,564 in other compensation, including life insurance, a savings plan and other benefits, and exercised options worth $2.9 million.

First Union shares gained 18.7 percent last year, compared with a gain of 4 percent in the Standard & Poor's bank index, but have fallen 12 percent so far this year on warnings that profit growth would be lower than expected.

The bank is eliminating up to 7,200 jobs this year, and expects those cuts and other cost reductions to reduce expenses by $400 million a year.

Pub Date: 3/13/99