Wells Fargo claws back $75M from top former executives

By Ovunc Kutlu

NEW YORK

Wells Fargo is clawing back $75.3 million in compensation from two of its top former executives amid a scandal regarding the bank's practices, the banking giant said Monday.

The Sales Practices Investigation Report released Monday said the former CEO John Stumpf was "too slow to investigate or critically challenge sales practices in the Community Bank”.

The report took six months of independent investigation, including 100 interviews and search of more than 35 million documents.

Carrie Tolstedt, head of the Community Bank, was said to have paid "insufficient regard to the substantial risk to Wells Fargo’s brand and reputation from improper and unethical sales practices”, the report said.

Wells Fargo Board decided to claw back $28 million of Stumpf’s incentive compensation paid in March 2016, and cancelled the $47.3 million stock options awards for Tolstedt, who resigned in June.

Former CEO Stumpf agreed in September to forfeit his equity awards valued at $41 million, before retiring.

Wells Fargo fired 5,300 employees last year after its personnel opened millions of accounts and applied for 500,000 unauthorized credit card accounts to boost sales figures and meet sales targets.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fined Wells Fargo $185 million for the practices that dated to 2011.