Appearing before a Senate committee this morning, Wells Fargo (WFC -0.9%) CEO Tim Sloan is sitting there and taking it, and showing the expected remorse for his bank's actions regarding the account opening scandal.
The exchanges between Sloan and lawmakers were similar to the beating Wells Fargo took on Capitol Hill previous year when its former chief executive John Stumpf was pummeled by lawmakers for hours as he attempted to explain why the mega bank had created millions of fake accounts that customers didn't want or need.
Wells Fargo & Company is a bank holding company.
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"Wells Fargo is not going to change with you in charge", said Warren, a prominent critic of Wall Street and a possible 2020 presidential candidate. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & in a report on Friday, July 28th.
Sloan defended himself in front of the committee, saying he thinks Wells Fargo has taken significant steps to improve its reputation and that the actions he has taken has resulted in "fundamental change" at the company. "Either way, you should be fired".
Investigators and the bank have revealed that some 3.5 million accounts were affected by conduct in which employees enrolled customers into accounts without their knowledge. Former CEO John Stumpf resigned amid the fallout of the scandal a year ago, after testifying before the committee.
After a few minutes of back and forth, Sloan was somehow incapable of producing a soundbite decrying Wells Fargo's notoriously aggressive sales culture, leaving an argumentative hole wide enough for Warren to drive a truck of populist rage through...
The Wells Fargo account fraud scandal is an ongoing controversy surrounding the creation of millions of fraudulent accounts on behalf of Wells Fargo clients without their consent.
In the months since that revelation, it has emerged that the scandal goes far deeper-with bill payment services, vehicle insurance, and mortgage adjustment foisted upon more than a million customers without their consent. During the same period past year, the company posted $1.01 earnings per share. Despite the departures of Stumpf and Tolstedt, much of the bank's senior leadership has stayed in place.
Sloan said on Tuesday he was "confident" no more than 3.5 million unauthorized accounts were opened. "You went on television to blame thousands of $12-an-hour employees who were just trying to meet cross-selling quotas that made you rich". It's not the product selection. "If you haven't changed the people, it's quite hard to change to culture".
Traders sold shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) on strength during trading on Tuesday.
"I have made mistakes".
"I apologize for the damage done to all the people who work and bank at this important American institution", Sloan said. "I couldn't disagree more with nearly everything Senator Warren said". A company-wide review of Wells' sales practices also revealed that the bank force-placed auto insurance for certain auto loan customers that were already covered by a vehicle insurance policy.
"WARREN: Well, here are the transcripts from all of the investors" earnings calls that you participated in from 2011 to 2014.
As for whether that criticism still applied to Sloan, he was less sure. Lawmakers also asked whether Wells Fargo "discovered other types of misconduct", such as insurance products. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) berated Sloan for claiming to be unaware of ongoing litigation over the scandal, and recent NPR reporting on Wells' wrongful vehicle repossessions. "This is problematic for us, because we need to see that there is a culture change, that there is a reaction to these kind of consumer failures".
