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Wells Fargo Senior Leaders Receive Retention Performance Share Grants

^{Published on 2009-12-31 09:05:19 - Market Wire}
 

SAN FRANCISCO--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--Wells Fargo & Company's (NYSE: WFC) board of directors approved a grant of retention performance shares for President and CEO John G. Stumpf and three other executive officers. These retention performance shares, which are not a form of cash compensation or annual incentive bonus, are forfeited if the executive receiving the shares leaves the Company to work for a competitor. In addition, the retention performance shares provide an incentive for these executives to achieve continued extraordinary results for the Company. The shares will vest after three years of service only if the company meets specified performance goals, and are subsequently covered by Wells Fargo's long-standing policy that a portion of all shares earned by executives as compensation must be held for as long as they remain employed by the company. For 2009, these executives will not receive annual cash incentive bonuses.

"We believe we have the very best leadership team in financial services today and a key to retaining that talent for the long-term is to compensate our senior leaders competitively and to align their interests with those of our shareholders"

In granting the retention performance shares, the board took into consideration the need for the continued leadership of these executives as Wells Fargo further integrates Wachovia into its operations, and navigates through and beyond the current economic recession.

The board approved retention performance shares for:

• John Stumpf, president and CEO, of a target of 379,600 shares, having a current value of approximately $10 million;

• Howard Atkins, a senior executive vice president and chief financial officer of the Company; Dave Hoyt, a senior executive vice president and head of Wholesale Banking; and Mark Oman, a senior executive vice president and head of Wells Fargo Home and Consumer Finance, of a target of 189,800 shares, having a current value of approximately $5 million.

"We believe we have the very best leadership team in financial services today and a key to retaining that talent for the long-term is to compensate our senior leaders competitively and to align their interests with those of our shareholders," said Steve Sanger, chair of the board's Human Resources Committee and retired chairman and CEO of General Mills, Inc. "They're leading the Company through the largest merger integration in U.S. banking history, and they have played key roles in generating record profits in the first three quarters of 2009, despite the challenging economy. Given the current challenges impacting the banking industry, Wells Fargo executives, at all levels, are being increasingly and aggressively recruited by competitors. Together these four senior leaders have more than 125 years of experience and retaining them, along with our entire senior management team, is clearly in the best interest of our Company and its shareholders and absolutely essential for the continued long term success of Wells Fargo."

Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified financial services company with $1.2 trillion in assets, providing banking, insurance, investments, mortgage and consumer finance through more than 10,000 stores and 12,000 ATMs and the internet (wellsfargo.com) across North America and internationally.