"One Year Later" is the title of the hearing that Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan faces this morning with the Committee on Banking, Housing, & Urban Affairs.
A year after former CEO John Stumpf was grilled by lawmakers over the bank’s massive scandal over fake accounts, Sloan will tell the panel he is “deeply sorry” for the scandal but also that Wells “is a better bank today than it was a year ago,” according to prepared remarks.
“I apologize for the damage done to all the people who work and bank at this important American institution,” Mr. Sloan is expected to tell the Senate Banking Committee.
As WSJ reports, regulators last year fined Wells Fargo $185 million for “widespread illegal” sales practices that included opening as many as two million deposit and credit-card accounts without customers’ knowledge.
A broader review by the company has since revealed the number is potentially 3.5 million accounts, and uncovered abuses in the bank’s auto-lending business.
As The Charlotte Observer notes, one analyst said Sloan’s opening statement will not go far enough to appease lawmakers angry over the scandal.
Jaret Seiberg, with Cowen and Company, said in a report that parts of Sloan’s remarks are expected to go over well, such as the ways Wells is holding top executives accountable. But the remarks won’t satisfy Sen. Elizabeth Warren and many other Democrats who will use the hearing to demand the ousting of executives or board members in place when fake accounts were being opened, Seiberg wrote.
Sloan could face some of his toughest questioning from Warren, of Massachusetts, who at one point accusing Stumpf of “gutless leadership” and told him he should resign and be criminally investigated.
Live Feed:
http://www.senate.gov/isvp
Sloan's Full Prepared Remarks:
http://www.scribd.com/embeds/360569022/content