credit:
https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2018/03/02/california-treasurer-wells-fargo-ceo-tim-sloan-wfc.html
California Treasurer and gubernatorial candidate John Chiang turned up the heat on Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan, calling for the long-time veteran of the bank to resign.
Chiang sought Sloan’s resignation in a letter sent to the bank March 1 after Wells (NYSE: WFC) said four directors are retiring at this year's annual meeting in April.
The retiring directors include three that Chiang had wanted off the board: Dignity Health CEO Lloyd Dean, Enrique Hernandez Jr., chairman and CEO of Inter-Con Security Systems, and Federico Pena, former U.S. energy secretary and former transportation secretary. Pena was scheduled to retire from the board in 2019.
Former Sybase CEO John Chen is also stepping down from the board.
Chiang also wants John Baker II, CEO of FRP Holdings, a real estate company based in Jacksonville, Fla., to leave the board.
“At the end of the day, Tim Sloan has shown himself to be too much of a champion of the old guard to truly be the change agent that Wells Fargo so desperately needs,” Chiang said. “As his institution continues to lose value, as federal and state agencies continue to hand down more sanctions, as abuse after abuse comes to light, Sloan continues to dawdle and proclaim Wells Fargo, itself, is the victim. Along with John Baker, it’s time for him to go.”
Wells Fargo declined to comment Friday on Chiang’s call for Sloan to resign.
Previously, Chiang had publicly asked whether Sloan was capable of bringing about the change needed for Wells to recover from a series of scandals that started coming to light in a September 2016 regulatory settlement over creating as many as 3.5 million deposit and credit accounts without customers’ authorization over several years. Some question how such misbehavior could persist for so long at one of the nation’s largest banks.
“While there is still more work to do, we have made significant improvements over the past year to our government and risk management that address concerns highlighted in this consent order,” Sloan said in a statement Feb. 2.
The bank also points to several steps it has taken, including several changes to its board, the creation of a stakeholder advisory council and new leadership and structure for its retail banking operations, among other measures outlined in a progress report issued by the bank.
But Wells Fargo’s March 1 press release on the latest board changes appeared tone deaf, with Wells Fargo Chair Betsy Duke actually praising the four retiring board members.
“The leadership and insight that these directors brought to the board and its committees, including the board’s human resources, finance, risk, and corporate responsibility committees are just some of the many ways they served our board with distinction over the years,” Duke said in a statement.
Chiang said in a statement that “it’s far too soon to celebrate because Wells Fargo’s storied stagecoach remains in disrepair."
Chiang said he plans to attend the bank’s annual meeting April 24 in a yet-to-be-disclosed city to voice his concerns. Or, as he put it last month, to “raise holy hell.”