Wells Fargo & Co. announced Thursday that its four top executives will not be awarded annual cash bonuses for 2009, but they all will be granted performance-based stock as an incentive to stay at the bank.

Chief Executive Officer John Stumpf will receive $10 million in stock, while each of CFO Howard Atkins, wholesale banking chief Dave Hoyt and home & consumer finance chief Mark Oman will get $5 million in stock.

Wells Fargo said that it was necessary to compensate senior leaders competitively as rivals had been alluring away bank's talent.

Commenting on the issue, a spokesperson for the bank said, "A key to retaining that talent for the long- term is to compensate our senior leaders competitively."

It may be noted here that a number of economists have been criticizing huge executive cash bonuses at banks, particularly those which received taxpayers' money during the economic crisis.