Wells Fargo & Co. denied cash bonuses to four top managers and awarded "retention performance shares," with Chief Executive Officer John Stumpf getting stock valued at $10 million.
Stumpf was granted 379,600 shares as a target, the San Francisco company said Thursday. Howard Atkins, the chief financial officer; Dave Hoyt, the wholesale banking chief; and Mark Oman, head of home and consumer finance, each received shares valued at $5 million, said Richele Messick, a spokeswoman for Wells. The shares will vest in three years, the company said.
"Wells Fargo executives, at all levels, are being increasingly and aggressively recruited by competitors," Stephen Sanger, head of the board's human resources committee, said in a news release Thursday. "A key to retaining that talent for the long term is to compensate our senior leaders competitively."
In December the company repaid $25 billion in government bailout funds, joining Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. in escaping U.S. limits on pay.
The shares, which are not a form of cash compensation or an annual incentive bonus, will be forfeited if the executive joins a competitor, Wells said.
It said the executives will have access to the shares if the company meets specific performance goals.
