UNITED STATES—Wells Fargo fired four senior managers on Tuesday, February 21 in connection with a consumer cross-selling bank scandal.
Claudia Russ Anderson, former Community Bank Chief Risk Officer, Pamela Conboy, Arizona Lead Regional President, Shelley Freeman, former Los Angeles Regional President, now Head of Consumer Credit Solutions, and Matthew Raphaelson, Head of Community Bank Strategy and Initiatives were dismissed “by a unanimous vote of the board,” the company, along with approximately 5,300 other employees when the incident first broke out in 2011. A number of employees have shared that sales pressure from executives was among the reasons they opened the fake accounts.
According to reports, this is the company’s first public firing of managers and executives since September 2016, when the company confirmed that over 2 million bank accounts had been opened (allegedly to meet sales goals) under customers’ names without their knowledge. Wells Fargo also issued a fine of $185 million after the Los Angeles City Attorney discovered the fake accounts.
“Before Tuesday’s announcement, the only two executives to publicly lose their jobs following the sales practices scandal had been John Stumpf, the former CEO of Wells who resigned in October, and Carrie Tolstedt, the former head of Wells’ community bank, who moved up her retirement date and left the bank in June. Both Tolstedt and Stumpf also had part of their announced 2016 bonuses rescinded,” said ABC News.
The four executives who were terminated represented areas of the San Francisco based bank which was heavily involved in the sales practices scandal.
Business Wire reported that Wells Fargo indicated that none of the four executives will “receive a bonus for 2016 and they will forfeit all of their unvested equity awards and vested outstanding options.”
The Board of Directors launched an investigation which is set to be completed by April 2017. In addition, the Department of Justice, Congressional committees, and the State Attorney General and Prosecutor’s offices are investigating the company.
