John Stumpf, Wells Fargo CEO, could walk away with nearly $200 million if he retires from the troubled bank.
Stumpf stands to receive over $123 million in severance pay and over $70 million in stock value, if he retires from the bank, which is still in the middle of a scandal involving millions of fake accounts, USA Today noted.
The walking money was calculated by consulting firm Equilar, and is the sum of Stumpf’s over $25 million in retirement payments, a $20 million pension, deferred compensation of over $4 million, and the $74 million in stock that he already owns, USA Today noted.
The much-talked about scandal was brought to light after more than 2 million fake accounts were opened in different customers’ names, CNN Money noted.
Stumpf, 62, apologized to the millions of customers who were affected by this, but denied any fraud by Wells Fargo’s management.
In a testimony given to the Senate Banking Committee last Tuesday, Stumpf said that the bank has plans to expand the internal review of accounts and refund process by two years, CNN Money noted.
Stumpf has been with Wells Fargo for 35 years, and said the scandal hurts him more than anything else that’s happened during his tenure.
“I am deeply sorry that we failed to fulfill our responsibility to our customers, to our team members, and to the American public,” he said during his remarks.
“I do want to make very clear that there was no orchestrated effort, or scheme as some have called it, by the company,” he added.
Wells Fargo’s employees tell a different story, with some saying they were pressured to meet sales goals that were unrealistic, which is why they opened up fake accounts with hope of keeping their jobs secured, CNN Money noted.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, a member of the committee, has said that if Stumpf and top management didn’t know about this scandal, then “that tells me this is simply a bank that is too big to manage,” CNN reported.
Stumpf said last week that he won't step down. But he would forfeit his claim to his retirement benefits if he gets terminated, USA Today noted.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.