John Stumpf, chairman, president, CEO

John Stumpf, chairman, president, CEO Total compensation: $5,672,786 for the year ended Dec. 31

Salary: $5,600,000

Non-equity incentive pay: $0

Other compensation: $72,786

New stock options: 108,528

Total return to shareholders: -6.1 percent

Note: Wells Fargo booked a 2009 expense of $13,083,386 for future stock awards for Stumpf and another $2.6 million for a change in the value of Stumpf's pension and deferred compensation. That resulted in a total compensation figure in the proxy statement of $21.3 million.

Two significant events in late 2008 affected the compensation of Wells Fargo executives for 2009. On Oct. 3, 2008, in midst of the financial crisis, Wells Fargo agreed to acquire Wachovia Corp. On Oct. 28, 2008, the U.S. Treasury Department invested $25 billion in Wells Fargo under the Troubled Asset Relief Program's capital purchase program.

The Wells Fargo board was challenged to provide incentives for executives to stay and complete the integration of the Wachovia merger while accepting pay constraints as determined by the TARP funds.

Wells Fargo repaid the entire TARP investment on Dec. 23, 2009. With the TARP money paid back, the compensation committee changed the compensation process again.

Stumpf's 2009 annual salary was paid with $900,000 in cash and $4.7 million in stock. One of the TARP pay provisions was that an executive's base salary could increase, but it had to be paid in stock rather than cash. Going forward, the company will reduce 2010 salaries and return to paying them all in cash.