Wells Fargo lures new CEO by boosting pay 40%

A significant pay raise may have helped persuade Charlie Scharf to take on the top job at Wells Fargo & Co. — a role spurned by many of his peers in the finance industry as the bank seeks to recover from a series of scandals. The incoming chief executive's annual target compensation was set at $23 million, the lender said Friday in a filing, a 40% increase from Mr. Scharf's $16.5 million target pay in his final full year at Bank of New York Mellon Corp. He'll also get an additional $26 million of Wells Fargo stock in lieu of awards he'll have to forfeit for leaving his current job. Compensation is a key part of any executive search, but especially so for Wells Fargo. Former CEO John Stumpf was lambasted for walking away with millions of dollars even as scores of his employees were fired on far less lucrative terms as a result of the bank's bogus-accounts scandal. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren criticized Mr. Stumpf's successor, Tim Sloan, after the bank boosted his pay as part of the promotion. [Recommended video: Is it time to sell your RIA? One industry expert says yes]​ That put the board in a difficult position, forcing it to balance between offering enough to attract solid candidates but not so much as to draw the ire of the public and lawmakers and further damage its already tattered reputation. Mr. Scharf, 54, will replace interim chief Allen Parker on Oct. 21.