About John Stumpf
John Stumpf, former CEO and chairman of Wells Fargo, faced repeated questioning in 2016 from members of Congress and the Senate Banking Committee regarding the bank's practice of opening millions of unauthorized customer accounts. During hearings, Stumpf stated he was "deeply sorry" and "fully accountable" for the unethical sales practices, but he declined to resign, said he had not returned compensation, and deferred questions about executive accountability to the board. He described the misconduct as the work of "1% of our people" and said he first learned the problem was growing in 2013 Mendz. Stumpf also stated that cross-selling was "shorthand for deepening relationships" and that the bank had violated customers' trust.
In his testimony, Stumpf said the bank had eliminated product sales goals, was contacting affected customers, and would "make it right" for those harmed. He acknowledged that the bank should have acted sooner and that the board would handle decisions regarding his own compensation and that of other executives. Senator Elizabeth Warren told Stumpf he should resign, return the money he earned during the period, and be criminally investigated. Stumpf retired as CEO effective immediately in October 2016.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from John Stumpf's recent appearances.
Browse all interviews →
Transcript (5 segments)
R
Robert Pittenger0:00
The gentleman from North Carolina, Mr. Pittenger.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Stumpf, afternoon. Good afternoon. We step out from Charlotte. I'll keep it brief. We love Charlotte. Well, you have a very major presence in our community. I think there's some 23,600 employees, correct? They are my constituents. I do have deep respect and appreciation for the corporate citizenship that you all have been in Charlotte. You have been exemplary in terms of what you've done in our community. You take active roles, your employees do, in many nonprofit organizations. And that leadership is commended. And, of course, we cherish the Wells Fargo golf tournament. So you have a major presence in our community, and that's why today is such a sad day. I know it is for you. I'm sure as you look back on these 35 years and where you are today, you think, 'What if? What if I had done this? What differences could I have made? Was I blindsided? What mistakes? Where did I err?' So I think I'm asking you to look as if you were sitting in our seat. We represent these people, as we said earlier, some 750, 728 and plus people. And you've heard a lot of outrage, a lot of righteous indignation because we haven't seen what we've all expected. You know, in the South Park Wells Fargo facility that you have, there's written behind the teller station, the counter, a statement by Mr. Wells came from, I believe, 1864. You recall its statement. I think it's very prominent. Perhaps it is another Wells Fargo. It seems to be the model of your bank.
J
John Stumpf2:07
Are you asking me a question? Yes sir. Yeah, I don't... He's made a lot of statements, but 'treat every customer with respect.' And I can't recall although, what we have there at the South Park says, 'We have one very powerful business rule, is concentrated in one word: courtesy.' So I think as you look at all of his laden, embedded the network of courtesy. But I think that's the challenge we had today: what could have been done different? Certainly the regulators were there yet this is reported by news agency. What would you have done different today as you look back at the changes in the mistakes that were made? As the CEO, what happened in that corporate culture that did not allow that information to come to you in a more timely fashion? It would cause you to take even greater direction in leadership.
I think it's a good question. I asked myself that a thousand times, a million times. And while I want to defend our culture and our people, I recognize that we could have done more earlier. And I don't know there's any one point, but surely we should have gotten up and realized earlier that product sales goals could elicit behavior that's inconsistent with our culture. Even if it happened, like in this case, with one percent of our team, it's way too much. It's simply not worth it. And frankly, it's not even consistent with where we're going in the business today. So I don't know if I can be clearer than that. And there's a lot of people doing a lot of introspection within the company today to make sure that we never, ever put a customer or a team member at risk. We want customers to be the focus of what we do. And if courtesy is the right word, we think of relationships. We love long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with our owners, our team members, and most importantly, our customers. Yes sir.
R
Robert Pittenger4:28
I think those of us who understand free markets... I was on a bank board, small bank, but we understood the customer; we understood the importance of the financial industry and what it does to facilitate economic growth. And that's why we're so challenged today, because we see there's been a strangling of regulations on the financial industry, and yet with that, we're having to deal with you and with this bank, with this problem that's going to have ripple effects. And the messaging is going to be that there needs to be even more oppressive regulations.
