Wells Fargo CEO Stumpf earns $17.9 million in 2011

[March 16, 2012]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf received $17.9 million in compensation in 2011, compared with $17.6 million in 2010, according to an Associated Press analysis of documents the company filed Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In discussing Stumpf's compensation, the board of Wells Fargo & Co. noted that the bank posted record profits in 2011 and rewarded its shareholders with higher dividends. Wells Fargo's net income was $15.87 billion in 2011, up from $12.36 billion in 2010.

This week, the San Francisco-based bank said it would increase its quarterly dividend by 10 cents to 22 cents. That followed the Federal Reserve's announcement of results from its most recent round of "stress tests," which evaluated how well 19 banks might perform in another financial crisis.

Fifteen of the 19 passed the tests -- including Wells Fargo -- and were allowed to boost dividends if they wanted. Wells Fargo also passed the tests in 2010 and in 2011 and boosted its dividend for both years.

Stumpf's 2011 compensation included a salary of $2.8 million and a stock award of $12 million, according to Thursday's filing. He didn't receive stock options, but he got about $3.1 million in deferred compensation for performance in 2010 that vested in 2011. That was $200,000 less than he received in 2010.

His salary fell 14 percent but his stock award rose almost 10 percent for an overall increase in his pay package of less than 2 percent.

Another $14,700 came in matching payments to Stumpf's 401(k) retirement plan.

The Associated Press formula is designed to isolate the value that the company's board placed on the executive's total compensation package during the last fiscal year. It includes salary, bonus, performance-related bonuses, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year.

The calculations don't include changes in the present value of pension benefits, and they sometimes differ from the totals companies list in the summary compensation table of proxy statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which reflect the size of the accounting charge taken for the executive's compensation in the previous fiscal year.

[Associated Press]

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