Professor Elam

Tuesday Sept  20 2016

As expected, sparks are flying at the Senate Hearing on WFC Scandal

"I am personally appalled by the size, the scope, the duration and the impact of the scandal, and I must say that I'm shocked and incredibly disappointed by the response of Wells Fargo's corporate executives," the New Jersey Democrat told CEO John Stumpf .

"In the last week you and your chief financial officer have taken to the press and laid the blame squarely on low-paid retail bank employees, and while I don't excuse what they did by any stretch of the imagination, I find that despicable."

As I suggested in class, no doubt CEO Stumpf is 'lawyered up' and really, do you think he fears anything more than this photo op of righteous indignation?  Justice is supposedly looking at the case but will this just blow over in a month or two? Confident that Congress will not move to break up his bank, no doubt he will retreat to Too Big to Fail Nirvana. Will the Board claw back any of Tolstedt's $95 M in stock options?

What does this say about the tone at the top of WFC?