Wells Fargo's reaction to scandal fails to satisfy angry lawmakers

OWON: How can they be Stumpfed how to deal with the Bastard? If 5,300 were fired, why not him?

IRS need to bring him in and fast. FBI need to look at him. Securities Commission need to look at him. US Treasury needs to be looking at him. How can the Bank Board allow him to act as Chairman any longer? What next, a job in Politics? He seems qualified.

Wells Fargo's reaction to scandal fails to satisfy angry lawmakers


The New York Times
By Stacy Cowley
29 September 2016

WASHINGTON — He is forfeiting at least $41 million in pay. He vows that his bank will drop its sales incentive program — blamed for prompting bankers to set up illegal and unauthorized bank and credit card accounts to meet their sales goals — by the end of the week, not in January, as he had previously promised.

But at a hearing Thursday before the House Financial Services Committee, nobody was impressed. If anything, the House lawmakers who interrogated John G. Stumpf, the chief executive of Wells Fargo, were even angrier and more hostile than their Senate counterparts who questioned him last week, before either of those steps had been taken.

One by one, Democrats and Republicans alike took turns ripping apart Mr. Stumpf and what took place at the bank he leads. They denounced the actions as “theft,” “a criminal enterprise,” identity fraud, an outrage and a devastating blow to the entire banking industry.

But that was not all of Wells Fargo’s bad news for the day.

Also on Thursday, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency fined Wells Fargo $20 million for violating rules on lending to members of the military, including a rate cap on how much interest can be charged to service members on active duty.

In a separate action, Wells Fargo agreed to pay $4 million to resolve a Justice Department investigation into improper seizures of vehicles owned by soldiers who fell behind on their loans.

“In those instances where some service members did not receive the appropriate benefits and protections, we did not live up to our commitment and we apologize,” the company said in a statement. “We have been notifying and fully compensating customers and will complete this work in 60 days.”

The news did not play well with members of the House committee, who spent more than four hours on Thursday questioning and castigating Mr. Stumpf about the misdeeds under his leadership.

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