Warren also said Stumpf made millions of dollars in the “scam”, telling him, “You should resign. and you should be criminally investigated”.
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Wells Fargo CEO has put the blame on a “few bad apples”, and 5,300 employees were fired when the news broke.
Stumpf called it an important question but drew a distinction.
“I am deeply sorry that we failed to fulfill our responsibility to our customers”, he said September 20.
“Bankers became so desperate to reach their sales goals to avoid being terminated, that they would “churn” accounts”.
John Stumpf told the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday the bank will contact all deposit customers in the US, including those who already had fees refunded, to invite them to review their accounts with their banker.
Wells Fargo, the country’s third-largest bank by assets, is embroiled in a scandal over the opening of sham accounts and was sued on Friday by customers who accused the bank of fraud and recklessness for its behavior.
Wells Fargo agreed to pay a record $US185 million to authorities including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau after a review found employees may have opened more than 2 million accounts and credit cards without consumers’ permission.
More than 5,000 people were subsequently fired but the bank continued to be criticized for its high-pressure sales tactics and its lack of leadership accountability. Tolstedt as well as other corporate officers will be called for transcribed interviews, the lawmaker said. “We don’t want to leave any stone unturned”, Stumpf said.
“I’m not on the human resources committee”, Stumpf said.
Mr. Stumpf was paid $19.3 million a year ago.
Stumpf said he learned of the situation in 2013, years after it began, and communicated the problems to the third-largest USA bank’s board in 2014.
“You should resign”, Massachusetts Sen.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, joined the chorus of senators calling for Wells Fargo executives to lose bonuses.
“There is no better example than the recently-exposed illegal behavior at Wells Fargo”. “You make it clear Wall Street won’t change until we make it change”. Several senators read letters they had received from their constituents who had been former Wells Fargo employees, complaining of pressure to keep signing up new accounts and constantly fearing the threat of being fired for not meeting quota.
In response to questioning from Sen. One possible executive could be Carrie Tolstedt, who ran Wells Fargo’s consumer banking division.
Questioned again by Warren, Stumpf said the bank had not considered firing her. Tolstedt opted to retire in July.
Modern Healthcare reported in June that Dean and many other not-for-profit health system executives receive lavish pay sitting on the boards of publicly traded companies. Sherrod Brown of OH, is in charge of the Banking Committee and in a position to use that committee to fight for Main Street. Facing bipartisan outrage from a Senate panel over accusations of employee misconduct, Stumpf appeared taken aback by the intensity of the verbal lashing.
Stumpf told lawmakers that he learned of the misbehavior in 2013, but acknowledged the bank did not act quickly enough to remedy the problem.
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Stumpf also spoke about how he hopes the company can move forward, on top of paying 5 million to customers affected by the economic travesty.
