SAN FRANCISCO—John Stumpf, the embattled CEO of Wells Fargo who has been under fire in Congress and in the public for sham accounts opened at the bank, said he will forfeit much of his 2016 salary, as well as $41 million in stock awards.
Wells Fargo, which announced it has launched an internal probe of the scandal that led to the firing of more than 5,000 employees, also announced that Carrie Tolstedt, an executive who oversaw operations that included the phony accounts, has left the bank ahead of her planned retirement. She will also not receive a bonus or severance, the bank reported. Wells Fargo will reportedly also seek to “claw back” $19 million in compensation paid to Tolstedt. Tolstedt had been due approximately $124 million at retirement.
The company's board of directors said that while it’s investigating its own sales practices, Stumpf will work for free.
The news comes just a day before Stumpf is scheduled to testify again before Congress, this time before the House Financial Services Committee. As CUToday.info reported here, Stumpf has already been grilled by the Senate.
According to Wells Fargo, Stumpf was paid $19.3 million in total compensation during 2015, in part because the bank continued to grow accounts. It has since been revealed, however, that employees opened approximately two-million sham accounts for customers in order to meet aggressive sales goals. That led to $185 million in fines against the bank.