Wells' Board Approves Retention Performance Shares for Executives

In lieu of cash bonuses for 2009, the board of Wells Fargo & Co., San Francisco, Calif., has approved multimillion-dollar retention performance shares for three key executives, including the head of Wells Fargo Home and Consumer Finance, Mark Oman. Mr. Oman, a senior executive vice president, and Howard Atkins, also a senior EVP as well as well as the company's chief financial officer, both got approved for a target of 189,800 shares having a current value of about $5 million. The board approved for John Stumpf, president and chief executive officer, a target of 379,600 shares having a current value of about $10 million. "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," Wells said. The shares will vest after three years of service only if the company meets specified performance goals. A portion of all shares earned by executives as compensation must be held for as long as they remain employed by the company. Steve Sanger, chair of the board's human resources committee and retired chairman and CEO of General Mills Inc., said the executives receiving the compensation have been "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." Commenting on the rationale behind the performance shares, he noted that given those accomplishments and "the current challenges impacting the banking industry, Wells Fargo executives, at all levels, are being increasingly and aggressively recruited by competitors."