I’m not claiming to be the first to call it - but I think the sentiment is building against him, similar to what was happening at the time with Stumpf and Sloan. It’s happening.
I’ve been in the industry for a long time and have learned that the old saying “Where there is smoke, there’s fire” is more often true than not.
First: I heard a rumor that my old firm AG Edwards was up for sale. I said “No way our CEO just promised the company officers publicly that we are not for sale.” The sale to Wachovia happed one month later. (In hindsight, all the signs were clearly there.)
Second, there were daily rumors that Wachovia was going under. Wachovia denied all the rumors, the new CEO bought $16 million worth of stock personally to show his faith in the bank, the public was told only 2% of WCHV’s outstanding loans were bad. Additionally, I don’t know that I can properly describe it, but there was this frenzied vibe within the bank, in that we were watching odd decisions being made - it wasn’t all adding up. 2 weeks later, WCHV ceased to exist.
A little bit older and wiser, I knew Stumpf was a goner after his (terrible) interview with Cramer. He was so incredibly narcissistic and out of touch with reality. I was not the only one who said it, but there were many on the inside who fiercely denied it up until his final day.
We watched sentiment starting to build against Sloan: He was criticized for spending $billions on stock buybacks and failed marketing campaigns, and for not being aggressive or quick enough in addressing regulatory concerns. He made big promises (like Charlie), but was unable to pull them off. WFC started being in the news again weekly for new scandals, new fines and failure to address regulatory concerns. Sloan, similar to Stumpf, was not properly prepared to testify before Congress. And right or wrong, Elizabeth Warren started calling for his resignation. He was forced to resign.
We are seeing much of the same today: failure to address regulatory concerns as expected, letters to the Board about Charlie’s performance relative to his pay structure, WFC back in the news weekly with new fines and new restrictions, the Federal Reserve Chairman speaking out about the asset cap remaining in place “until the bank has fixed it’s multiple problems”, Warren publicly calling for the bank to be broken up, Charlie showing questionable judgement in spending the bank’s capital on stock buybacks thus lining his own pockets, instability at the top ranks (newly hired execs leaving with no explanation), poorly thought-out decisions being made and then retracted, and more. Each event, by itself, isn’t all that convincing. But all of it together adds up to only one conclusion.
I don’t know if he resigns or is let go, but I definitely think the ball is rolling.
Let me know your thoughts.