By Nupur Anand
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Wells Fargo shareholders on Tuesday approved executive pay packages and the appointment of directors with strong majority support.
Most of the company’s proposals received over 90% of shareholders’ votes in favor of the motions while all the shareholder proposals were rejected.
On Tuesday, the bank also said its board had authorized a stock buyback program of up to $40 billion, which will take effect upon the completion of the current repurchase program, but ruled out any immediate plans for a stock split.
Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf said there were concerns in the market due to economic uncertainty and there are expectations that volatility will continue.
“Timely resolution (of talks around trade barriers) which benefit the U.S. would be good for business, consumers and the market,” Scharf said.
“This is a complicated issue and our current expectation is that we will face continued volatility and uncertainty and are prepared for a slower economic environment in 2025,” he added.
The bank has addressed almost all the longstanding regulatory punishments known as consent orders that have kept it under strict oversight from regulators. On Monday, the lender cleared the sixth consent order this year, and the 12th since 2019. It has two left.
“We remain confident that we will complete the work needed to close our other open consent orders,” Scharf said.
The bank also operates under an asset cap of $1.95 trillion, one of the strictest punishments by regulators, which prevents it from increasing its balance sheet beyond that threshold.
The bank’s efforts to fix its compliance problems have fed hopes the asset cap could soon be removed.
The bank also sees opportunity to expand its credit card, auto franchise and corporate and investment banking businesses.
Wells Fargo’s profit beat expectations in the first quarter as the bank cut costs and set aside less money to cover potential loan losses, but management warned of risks related to tariffs that could crimp economic growth.
(Reporting by Nupur Anand in New York, additional reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru, editing by Lananh Nguyen, David Gregorio and Rod Nickel)
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