By Emily Glazer
Wells Fargo & Co. Chairman and Chief Executive John Stumpf
got a show of support at the bank's annual shareholder meeting in
St. Louis, where the firm heard far fewer complaints on its
home-lending practices than past years.
A shareholder proposal for an independent chairman received just
16% of votes in favor, according to estimates from Wells Fargo.
That is among the lowest percentage in recent years, and the 10th
year in a row such a proposal has failed.
One shareholder lamented the bank's home-lending practices after
applying 40 times for loan modifications. This shareholder also
praised Mr. Stumpf for helping a different shareholder that
attended the bank's annual meeting in San Antonio last year who
received a loan modification and was able to stay in her home.
The bank's mortgage-related practices were a more prominent
theme of the Wells Fargo meetings in the years after the financial
crisis.
Mr. Stumpf also bypassed a question about a Wall Street Journal
article referring to the bank's talks to buy some or all of General
Electric Co.'s $74 billion portfolio U.S. middle-market loans.
"We surely can't talk about that," Mr. Stumpf responded, and
went on to discuss the bank's recent $9 billion deal to buy GE's
property loans and provided $4 billion of financing a Blackstone
unit's portion of the commercial real estate deal.
The second shareholder proposal asking for a report on the
bank's lobbying practices and policies failed, garnering an
estimated 19% of shareholder votes, according to the bank.
Two shareholders asked about the bank's "excessive sales goals"
in pushing products. Mr. Stumpf said the bank's employees aren't
told to "force products...that is totally absent from our culture."
He added that any employee who feels pressured should talk to their
boss, a human resources director or call the bank's anonymous
ethics line.
Shareholders approved all the bank's 16 board directors,
including new additions in the past year Elizabeth A. Duke, a
former member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, and
Suzanne M. Vautrinot, a retired Major General of the U.S. Air Force
whose cyber security expertise was emphasized by Mr. Stumpf in
response to cyber security questions.
One shareholder from Dayton, Ohio, asked about a Wall Street
Journal article on regulators intensifying their scrutiny of bank
board directors and the additional meetings taking place among
them. Mr. Stumpf said Wells Fargo's board directors have "a more
open and direct process with regulators but not at the expense of
management."
Another shareholder asked the bank to meet about its board
directors' tenure, citing six directors who have an average of
21.33 years on the board. This shareholder also added that some
newer directors only own 100 to 150 shares of Wells Fargo and
aren't personally vested in the bank. Mr. Stumpf said all directors
have a process to increase their shares in the bank and "they're in
line for that."
Shareholders also approved the appointment of KPMG as the bank's
auditor.
Write to Emily Glazer at emily.glazer@wsj.com
Access Investor Kit for General Electric Co.
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US3696041033
Access Investor Kit for Wells Fargo & Co.
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US9497461015
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires