BOSTON (AP) - The chief executive of global insurer XL Capital Ltd. received a pay package valued at $6.2 million last year, according to an Associated Press analysis of a regulatory filing.

The compensation figure is down 17 percent from the previous year, when Michael McGavick worked eight months at XL Capital after joining the company as CEO on May 1, 2008.

McGavick's 2009 compensation fell primarily because he received a one-time bonus of $1.5 million in 2008 when he replaced Brian O'Hara as CEO. That year, XL Capital paid out a total $16 million to McGavick and O'Hara.

McGavick's $1.5 million signing bonus in 2008 was in addition to a $2 million annual bonus he received that year. In 2009, McGavick's annual cash bonus rose to $3 million.

That amount was 50 percent higher than his annual bonus target, in a year when XL's board found McGavick's performance to be "outstanding", according to the company's proxy filing yesterday.

McGavick's base salary last year was $1 million, up from the $666,667 in 2008 when he served eight months as the new CEO.

He was awarded cash incentive compensation of $933,333 in 2009, based on meeting performance goals during the year. He received no such incentive award in 2008, when sharply falling financial markets hurt the company's performance and hit insurance companies especially hard.

XL, which provides global commercial insurance and reinsurance coverage, saw its stock price sink as low as $2.67 on February 9, 2009, before ending the year above $18. Last year, the company reported net income of $206.6 million on revenue of $6.2 billion.

Mr. McGavick last year also was awarded stock options that were valued at $889,831 when they were granted on February 27, 2009. The options were awarded at an exercise price of $3.31, and are now worth far more, since XL Capital's shares have recently traded around $19.

The 52-year-old saw other compensation drop nearly 56 percent last year to $389,273 from $881,956 in 2008. Last year, the biggest pieces of McGavick's other compensation were a $276,000 housing allowance and $52,589 travel allowance. His 2008 other compensation figure was larger mainly because of assistance he received to move to Bermuda when he became CEO.

Before joining XL Capital, McGavick served as president and CEO of Seattle-based property and casualty insurer Safeco Corp. from January 2001 until December 2005.