Wells Fargo & Company announced that the Board of Directors intends to appoint Charlie Scharf, Wells Fargo CEO, as Chairman of the Board. When Scharf becomes Chairman, the Board intends to appoint a Lead Independent Director to support the Board’s continued independent oversight.

In addition, the Board awarded Scharf a one-time special equity grant consisting of $30 million in Restricted Share Rights and 1.046 million Stock Options.

These actions reflect the Board’s desire to retain Scharf as the CEO of the Company and to recognize his leadership in transforming Wells Fargo, including creating significant shareholder value and positioning the company for future success. Under his leadership, he has built an outstanding management team, significantly strengthened the company’s risk and control infrastructure, improved its reputation, achieved critical regulatory milestones and delivered a strong financial performance, while making strategic investments in driving growth of our core businesses.

The award will vest (and become exercisable for stock options) on a pro rata basis following the fourth, fifth and sixth anniversaries of the grant date. The Board believes the award design, coupled with our stock ownership policy, promotes further alignment of Scharf’s compensation with long-term shareholder value creation.

Steven Black, current Chairman of the Board said, “We are thrilled to recognize Charlie's significant contributions to Wells Fargo and are planning to appoint him as Chairman of the Board. We also plan to appoint a Lead Independent Director to maintain independent Board leadership. The special equity award is designed to acknowledge Charlie’s role in leading Wells Fargo through an unprecedented transformation, creating shareholder value and positioning the Company for the future. We look forward to Charlie’s continued guidance and strategic direction as we navigate the future."

Scharf stated, “Over the last several years, our Operating Committee and our 213,000 employees have executed a multi-faceted transformation under extremely difficult circumstances. It is a privilege to lead Wells Fargo and our talented and dedicated team, and I look forward to building on our significant momentum to continue improving our performance and market position in everything we do.”