Senate Banking Committee members questioned the CEO of Wells Fargo, and examined the regulatory response to the bank's opening of unauthorized accounts.
According to a hearing summary prepared by Delta Strategy Group, key takeaways from the testimony included the following:
- The Wells Fargo Chair and CEO apologized and accepted responsibility for the bank's conduct and announced new remedial measures to address outstanding issues.
- The Wells Fargo Chair and CEO stated that he would participate in neither board deliberations nor decisions regarding compensation and human resources issues.
- Senators on both sides of the aisle agreed that the Wells Fargo culture was the cause of the widespread opening of unauthorized accounts.
- All three witnesses from the regulatory community agreed that the Wells Fargo CEO's testimony was inconsistent with what was found during their investigations.
In a separate letter addressed to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Comptroller of the Currency, Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) questioned whether either of the regulatory agencies "made any criminal referrals to the Department of Justice regarding this matter." Senator Sanders acknowledged that the agencies had imposed fines on the bank.
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