Professor Elam

Monday April 17, 2017

CEO Stumpf and his SalesManager are gone, now shareholders will vote on whether to retain WFC Directors.

The Director's 113 page report handily blamed Stumpf and his lieutenant for the problems. Both are now gone.

As the NYC Comptroller says, fraud is a matter of accountability and oversight.

Mr. Sanger, the former chief of General Mills Inc., has handled the board's response to the sales problems, culminating in a 113-page report April 10 that largely blamed Mr. Stumpf and one of his key lieutenants, who has also left the bank.

Though Wells Fargo typically reaches out to investors around this time, shareholders have responded with many questions about the board's role, especially after the investigation results. For instance, some want to know why the board didn't act sooner to shake up the retail-banking unit despite concerns in 2014 and 2015 about improper employee practices that included signing customers up for fake accounts to meet sales goals.

"The fraud at Wells Fargo is ultimately an oversight failure. That's why accountability — and real, meaningful change — needs to start at the top," said New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer. "The only question is which directors, and that is what investors are now assessing." As of Dec. 30, the city's pension funds had about $594 million in Wells Fargo stock.