WASHINGTON–The CEO of Wells Fargo told the House Financial Services Committee the bank is changing the “broken culture” that led to multiple scandals and a recent $3-billion-plus fine.
During his testimony, Wells Fargo CEO Charles W. Scharf was cautioned by Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) the previous two Wells Fargo CEOs to appear before Congress resigned soon after their appearances.
Scharf told the Committee the bank previously had a “flawed business model” and that while it has stumbled, it is making changes.
“The sense of urgency that people are working with inside the company is very different today than it was four months ago,” Scharf told the committee.
Not surprisingly, Scharf said the bank is working to respond to regulators, as it is currently operating under a dozen consent orders, including a rare cap on growth imposed on the bank by the Federal Reserve in 2018.
“We need to run the company fundamentally differently than we’ve run it in the past,” Scharf said.
As CUToday.info reported here, two members of the Wells Fargo board, including its chairwoman, resigned in the days prior to their scheduled testimony before the committee. Their resignations followed a report by Democrats on the Financial Services Committee that was strongly critical of members of the board.
Later, asked why he took the job, Scharf added, “We can restore the brand and the reputation of Wells Fargo by taking the kinds of actions that we’ve started to take in my short time at the company.”