Wells Fargo’s ex-CEO John Stumpf hit with lifetime ban, $17.5M fine By Thornton McEnery January 23, 2020 | 2:57pm | Updated Enlarge Image AP More On: john stumpf Wells Fargo agrees to $65M settlement with New York AG Wells Fargo could face as much as $1 billion in fines Elizabeth Warren tells Wells Fargo CEO he 'should be fired' Wells Fargo names first female chair of any major US bank America’s most vilified bank CEO since the financial crisis has been officially blacklisted. Wells Fargo’s ex-chief executive John Stumpf has been barred from the banking industry for life as punishment for his role in creating a culture of aggressive sales quotas that forced millions of customers to own bogus financial products, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said on Thursday. Stumpf will also pay a $17.5 million fine, according to the OCC, which also announced settlements with Wells’ former human resources head, Hope Hardison, for $2.25 million, and its former chief risk officer, Michael Loughlin, for $1.25 million. Five other former Wells executives have refused to settle the OCC’s claims, including Carrie Tolstedt, who as the former head of community banking was in charge of the division behind the fake accounts. The OCC said Tolstedt faces a lifetime ban and a fine of $25 million — more than Stumpf’s. “A full and fair examination of the facts will vindicate Carrie,” a lawyer for Tolstedt told Reuters. Charges against additional executives may be brought by the OCC, Reuters said. The Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission have also been investigating the account debacle. Stumpf became a lightening rod of public fury after it was revealed in September 2016 that the bank’s sales people had opened millions of fake bank and credit cards in the names of its customers in an effort to meet aggressive sales quotas. Stumpf and dozens of other Wells executives resigned — but evidence of bad behavior by San Francisco bank kept trickling out. In 2017, it admitted to over-charging some 800,000 customers for $80 million car insurance they didn’t need, which resulted in some vehicles being repossessed. The bank also admitted to overcharging military veterans to refinance their mortgages between 2006 and 2011. The OCC said the bank’s bigwigs fostered a culture of intense pressure and competition that encouraged staffers to cheat to keep their jobs. The regulator even cited a letter one ex-staffer wrote to Stumpf in 2013 claiming that working at Wells was more stressful than this person’s Gulf War military service. Of course, Stumpf should have no problem paying his $17.5 million fine as he walked away from Wells in October 2016, after the fallout from the scandal refused to die down, with a $130 million exit package, according to reports. Tolstedt retired from Wells Fargo the same month the fake-account scandal broke with a golden parachute package reported to be $124.6 million. It’s unclear if Stumpf and Tolstedt have yet received all of their money, but Wells’ current CEO on Thursday said the bank will not be making any more delayed compensation payments to the former executives named by the OCC. “The OCC’s actions are consistent with my belief that we should hold ourselves and individuals accountable,” CEO Charles Scharf said in an email to staff. “This was inexcusable. Our customers and you all deserved more from the leadership of this company.” https://nypost.com/2020/01/23/wells-fargos-ex-ceo-john-stumpf-hit-with-lifetime-ban-17-5m-fine/
What amazes me is when WF was blowing up in the news for their sales practices, they barely even looked at the other big banks such as Chase and Bank of America. WF is only bank that got caught due to how easy and apparent their sales goals are to manipulate. Their employees weren't trying to get bigger bonuses like the media portrayed. They were trying to keep their job by hitting massively unrealistic sales goals set for them by the boys upstairs. If they don't hit their goals, they don't feed their family. BofA, Chase, and any other banking giant is just as bad if not worse. WF doesn't even have sales goals anymore. The other banks do.