I give the guy a 1 and would put him on a pip. Then I would have the board start interviewing for a replacement in Bangalore, fair is fair.
The stock price is down by about 60% since he started. His predecessors even with fed fund rates at 0 bps managed to pull in over twenty billion year after year, and also didn't have layoffs. Is Charlie just a wannabe banker? All of his moves so far are copycat moves. He's looking more and more like a 4-foot tall basketball player.
20 replies (most recent on top)
All ole chainsaw has done so far is bring a playbook from his idol Jamie D , used at other banks, to WF. He’s done nothing innovative or outside the playbook. Outside of the actual reorganization, nothing has materially changed thus far. Just a bunch of hearsay and future plans. At nearly a year in, he gets maybe a 2.
All ole chainsaw has done so far is bring a playbook from his idol Jamie D , used at other banks, to WF. He’s done nothing innovative or outside the playbook. Outside of the actual reorganization, nothing has materially changed thus far. Just a bunch of hearsay and future plans. At nearly a year in, he gets maybe a 2.
in reality its all about making money and being profitable; I have not seen either of these
The one thing that completely baffles me is the notion that we have good benefits. Our benefits are horrendous, so bad that my spouse's sole purpose of their job is to get benefits from their employer. We don't give two sh*ts about employees, never have. If we did we would have better benefits in place. Everything we do we are behind the tide two decades. Benefits, technology, etc. For example, I believe we just extended parental leave to be more in par with where industry was 15 years ago when my first child was born.
Former CEOs rode the wave of an increasing stock market to lead our "success" but left us with lagging tech, data, and other capabilities. Lagging are benefits as well.
I always thought the intent with Avid's odd role was to create a new bank and sunset the old. Literally this is exactly what we need to do - rebuild and throw the old out.
As far as the Chase model goes, it is an old playbook - why doesn't CS aspire to differentiate? Likely because we are lagging so much that getting to half of the franchise value of Chase would be a win.
We can no longer live in the past, look to the future and define what large banking can look like. That's our opportunity, but we don't have the ability to think ahead given the many challenges we have unsuccessfully addressed for a long time.
Did anyone think he’ll be getting a 5 or a 4 in a span of one year? I will hold judgment on that for now. However, he’s not getting off to a good start. My opinion is he is trying to replicate a business model that worked for Chase. He thinks what worked at Chase will work at Wells. He needs to understand what made Wells Fargo great were the immensely talented people and leaders who work or have worked here and are being shown the door. You can never replace these people and the successful culture that was built here. Yes, we did have several bad apples. But they could never have overshadowed the ones who made Wells Fargo the most feared bank in the industry. Everyone that works here knows we didn’t need to do what was done in retail banking. That’s the only reason Charlie is here. We did not need a major overhaul, just a major tweak. It will take more years than most people think and it will get much worse before it gets better. Good luck to all!
@amr+16FIgHSK you would give the guy a 4 when every analyst on Wall St. said he made a major mistake?
Let me guess, you gave Stumpf and Tolstedt a 5.
@esz+16FIgHSK Capial1 cut dividend. Yes, WF has multiple factors working against it at the same time(Asset Cap, Bad Image, Fines, Covid, interest rates at all time low, unemployment at all time high I’m the last 30 years) where other banks are not dealing with the first 3 points I listed.
You all think the real bosses get PIPS?!
How cute
PIPS are for plebes about to get canned. Up top they “resign” or “retire” and go join the senior leadership team of a competitor with a farewell bonus many times what most of us will earn in a lifetime
As Carlin says, it’s a big club, and you ain’t in it
@rkb+16FIgHSK maybe a 4 for me. I know he looks like the bad guy with his smirky face, but he was put there to "fix" things. Yes... there are definitely too many layers, too many addtl benefits, too many contractors, too many bonuses, etc.
If WF has decided to fix things, they need a "fixer" that have the b@11s to do it. I'd rather he rip the bandage fast, rather than agonizingly slow. But it also might be a tactic so they can force some employees to start looking elsewhere and then they don't have to deal with a package.
“ The stock price has actually gone down 49.7%; over 95% of that fall occurring during the Covid era.”
So why isn’t USB, JPM, BAC, etc... all down similarly? Shouldn’t they be 50% down as well? Why didn’t any of the above have to cut their dividends?
He's a 3 just like me!
He gets a 1 for how he treats the employees. The smirk he had on his face when he said how “you call yourselves team members” says it all. We are not team members. We are employees. Expenses. Bodies.
@qtx+16FIgHSK Past leadership didn't cause him to severely miss the 2Q projections. He started off with a major miss that all of Wall St. paid attention to. He should be a 2 at most with that kind of flub.
I would expect him to be on a short leash.
I'm not a Charlie champion by any stretch but comparisons between him and his predecessors are flawed – especially vs. Stumpf, since his "success" was based on fake cross-sells and other magical thinking. Now Charlie is having to right a ship that's actually been listing for years. Most of us just couldn't see it.
Easy 5. The leadership changes and accountability mechanisms he's instilled have lead the OCC, for the first time since the scandals began, to actually applaud our progress. It's still a mountain of work but we're actually moving in the right direction with some pace now.
The stock price has actually gone down 49.7%; over 95% of that fall occurring during the Covid era. It's silly to attribute that to Charlie instead of, you know, Covid. The $20bn/yr in net income was driven by sales practice misconduct and severe underinvestment in technology, talent, and risk, but if you want to applaud it, that is...certainly...a...viewpoint.
@OP, did his predecessors have to deal with a pandemic you unreasonable tool?
Oh my! Do you expect a ship this size to maneuver like a ski boat. It’s going to take years to get things right. As others have said. Fire the old guard, clean house in the lower ranks, right size, get out of businesses that will never be profitable, build businesses that can be profitable, digital transformation, Omnichannel marketing, etc. get lean and mean. Can Scharf do it? We will see.
Your past leadership really screwed this place up.
The only thing that I could agree on is the way layoffs have been handled. I think they should have been clear about which sections of the bank would be hit and when. The “unknown” has not been conducive to optimal productivity and performance when so many are stressed out. I do think he and senior leaders felt they were being transparent. There is a big difference in being transparent and creating chaos. He could have gained a lot of respect by saying this is what will happen, this is where, this is where, and the “why”. We only heard him say he doesn’t like layers of mgmt and attrition. He never said the word “layoffs” and pushing a caring agenda about minorities is wonderful, but it feels like gaslighting to distract from the disarray happening in the company.
Rofl; 2 for sure.
lol – a 1? no, a 2 or maybe 3 probably. Especially since we pulled a loss last quarter.
That said, the guy just started last year and other than filling out the leadership and clearing out old guard I don't think he's done much YET. We're already seeing what will happen – cut costs everywhere and the easiest way to do that is get rid of people, real estate and travel (typically top expenses in any company that can be dealt with quickly). COVID k–led travel– check. People are next – check. With fewer people and workplace 2020 (aka cram as many people into a space as possible), then you can deal with less real estate. Although didn't the company just open up a bunch of space in Charlotte?