Wells Fargo CEO sees big boost in pay despite the bank’s scandals

Published 12:00 am Sunday, March 18, 2018

Wells Fargo CEO Timothy Sloan was awarded $17.4 million in compensation for his work last year, a more than 35 percent increase from the year before despite the bank continuing to struggled with scandals.

But the bank noted it did not award Sloan a cash bonus “based on his ultimate responsibility, as CEO, for our company’s performance.” Sloan also had recommended he not get that bonus.

That performance included “significant but incomplete progress on addressing compliance and operational risk-management issues,” the bank said.

The announcement comes as Wells Fargo continues to recover from a major scandal over unauthorized accounts that erupted in 2016 — and from revelations of new problems that have emerged since then.

Last year, the bank disclosed problems with a ballooning list of products, from auto insurance to mortgages to identity theft protection.

The wave of scandals led the Federal Reserve to slap restrictions on Wells Fargo’s growth last month and order it to improve its governance and risk-management processes. The regulator said the unprecedented actions were in response to “widespread consumer abuses and other compliance breakdowns” at Wells.

In its latest stumble, Wells this month disclosed a host of new areas with potential problems. Those include its wealth and investment management business, which the bank said federal authorities are examining, as well as its foreign exchange business.

Last year, Wells Fargo’s board said eight executives, including Sloan, would not be awarded cash bonuses for their 2016 performance following the scandal over unauthorized accounts.

But the executives ended up receiving more overall compensation in 2016 compared with the year before, because of higher salaries and stock awards, which offset the loss of cash bonuses.

Wells Fargo employs roughly 25,000 people in the Charlotte metropolitan area, its largest employment hub.

Wells Fargo joins other banks that have released fresh compensation details for top executives.

Last month, Charlotte-based Bank of America disclosed that CEO Brian Moynihan received $23 million in salary and stock for his performance in 2017, a 15 percent jump from the previous year.

Moynihan’s pay for 2017 included $21.5 million in stock, as well as an unchanged base salary of $1.5 million. As in previous years, he did not receive a cash bonus.

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