Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf had his pay cut by about $2.7 million last year as the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the San Francisco-based bank's performance.
Scharf's total compensation was $20.3 million for 2020, according to a Friday securities filing by the bank, a figure which includes salary, a cash bonus and restricted shares of the bank. That's down from the $23 million per year in annualized compensation he made in 2019.
According to the filing, Wells Fargo's board considered the pandemic's impact on the bank's 2020 performance when it made the decision.
Wells Fargo posted a quarterly loss for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis in the second quarter last year. The bank's performance has since returned to the black.
For 2020, Scharf, who lives in New York, was paid a salary of $2.5 million, a $4.35 million cash bonus and nearly $13.49 million in shares. When determining his pay, the board also considered the bank's progress on its myriad issues in front of regulators, Scharf's newly installed management team and his ongoing reform efforts inside the bank.
Since he started in October 2019, Scharf has been attempting to turn around the long-beleaguered bank. An acolyte of JPMorgan CEO Jaime Dimon, he's brought new executives from outside the bank and embarked on a restructuring that's expected to cut billions in expenses at the bank in the coming years.
In the fourth quarter last year, the bank cut headcount by 6,400. For his work, he's gained the nickname "Chainsaw Charlie" by some of his internal critics.
Wells Fargo employs 27,000 people in the Charlotte area, a legacy of the bank's 2008 purchase of Wachovia. The bank is the largest private employer in Charlotte.
