Wells Fargo's last CEO may have mishandled the cross-selling scandal, but investors did well otherwise during his tenure, the company's chairman, Stephen Sanger, told CNBC.

John Stumpf was forced to return a total of $69 million in salary after revelations that the bank had created 2 million fake accounts for customers without their knowledge, partly under his watch.

However, that was not even a quarter of the total $286 million in compensation he acquired during the 2011-2016 period that encompassed the time during which the scandal emerged publicly.

In a live interview, Sanger pointed out that the total amount was still the greatest "clawback" in financial services history.

"During his nine years as CEO, the market cap of Wells Fargo grew by $100 billion. That's almost double," he said. "The shareholders benefited greatly from John's leadership."