He promised to assist affected customers. The embattled bank says the change, announced early Tuesday, will be effective January 1.
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The bank was fined $185 million by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau earlier this month. “I think the best thing I could do right now is lead this company, and lead this company forward”, he said.
Politicians, including Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders, also called on the US Department for Labour to investigate working conditions at the bank, claiming it could have “aggressively skirted” rules on working hours, overtime payments and pay.
A letter sent to the bank’s general counsel asked him to make four senior executives available for transcribed interviews, including Carrie Tolstedt.
After his public shaming at the hands of Elizabeth Warren this week, Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf is stepping down – no, not as chief executive (despite Warren’s wishes). Wells Fargo declined to comment on the suit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Utah.
On Tuesday, Stumpf testified before a Senate panel about the changes the bank has made since 2011 to stop the activity, including lowering sales targets, more rigorous training for employees and creating a new alert system that notifies customers when a new account is opened in their name.
Republicans chided the embattled CEO as well, with Sen. The bank says it has already refunded to customers $2.6 million in fees charged for products that were sold without authorization.
The senators are calling into question whether the bank violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Addressed to Labor Secretary Tom Perez and David Weil, administrator of the agency’s wage and hour division, the senators also said Wells Fargo employees faced “threats of termination; mandated hours of unpaid overtime; harassment; and other forms of retaliation” as managers sought to meet the lender’s aggressive sales quotas.
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DOL spokesman Jason Surbey acknowledged that the agency had received the letter, and said: “While we can not discuss details of potential law enforcement decision-making, we do take the concerns raised in the letter very seriously”.
