Wells Fargo's CEO Salary Raise Reaction Rare Fed Reaction

(Reuters) – Wells Fargo & Co granted CEO Tim Sloan a 5% salary increase for 2018, prompting the Federal Reserve to issue a statement that it does not approve executive compensation .

Sloan's base salary remained unchanged at $ 2.4 million. He earned $ 14 million in shares and the board awarded him a $ 2 million bonus based on the bank's financial results and other factors, according to a company ranking. In 2017, Sloan did not receive a bonus and its total compensation was $ 17.4 million.

"The Federal Reserve does not approve payroll packages. We expect boards to hold management accountable, "said a Fed spokesman in an e-mailed statement about new executive compensation issues.

In general, the Fed is mocked by all the institutions that it regulates and seldom comments beyond pre-programmed regulatory events.

Wells Fargo is currently banned from growing after the US Federal Reserve imposed an unprecedented cap on its assets in February, citing "many consumer abuses and compliance failures." ".

The 2016 revelation that Wells Fargo created millions of fake accounts prompted authorities to ask questions about mortgage foreclosures, auto insurance sales and wealth management activities, resulting in fines of several billions of dollars.

Wells Fargo released his compensation one day after Sloan's appearance before the House Financial Services Committee in order to prove to lawmakers that the bank had been reformed since 2016, revealing that it had created millions of non-bank accounts. allowed.

At Tuesday's hearing, Sloan was peppered with bipartite criticism for four hours, but sailed in a hostile committee without major trouble. [L1N20Z0NY]

In 2018, Wells Fargo shares fell 22% as the bank continued to be fined and released new issues.

Earlier this year, Bank of America Corp revealed that CEO Brian Moynihan's annual compensation had increased 15 percent to $ 27 million. Morgan Stanley had said the CEO's overall compensation, James Gorman, had risen by 7% to 29 million, and that the compensation of Jamie Dimon, chairman of JPMorgan Chase & Co. million, according to the filings.