Wells Fargo became the latest financial institution to change its compensation policies in the wake of a national uproar over executive pay this year.
Wells Fargo & Co said on Thursday it gave Chief Executive John Stumpf and three other top executives stock payouts worth a total of about $25 million, but it said none of these executives will receive a cash bonus for 2009.
Steve Sanger, chairman of the board’s human resources committee, said, “Given the current challenges impacting the banking industry, Wells Fargo executives, at all levels, are being increasingly and aggressively recruited by competitors.”
Stumpf, 56, was granted 379,600 shares as a target, the San Francisco-based company said today in a statement. Chief Financial Officer Howard Atkins, wholesale banking chief Dave Hoyt and home and consumer finance head Mark Oman received shares valued at $5 million each, spokeswoman Richele Messick said. The shares will vest in three years, the company said.
Wells said as recently as September that it would repay TARP without selling new stock and further diluting shareholders’ stakes. The bank argued that it was generating enough capital internally to exit the program.
Wells Fargo’s move follows that of Goldman Sachs Group, which earlier this month said it would pay its top managers their 2009 bonuses in stock rather than cash.
Shares were up 1.14% at $27.12 in recent trading. The stock is down 8.01% this year.