Elizabeth Warren Urges Wells Fargo to Fire CEO

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D, Mass.) told Wells Fargo Chief Executive Timothy Sloan that he "should be fired" during a congressional hearing Tuesday about the bank's sales practices scandal and other problems over the past year.

Sen. Warren said "Wells Fargo needs to start over. That won't happen until the bank rids itself of people like you."

Sen. Warren attacked Mr. Sloan's time as an executive at the bank, calling him "incompetent" or "complicit" during the sales scandal and not investigating those problems sooner.

Sen. Warren also said Mr. Sloan made remarks to investors over the years that she claims were "pumping up the stock price, bragging about a record number of new accounts."

This is the first time she has called for his firing, though Sen. Warren previously called for his predecessor John Stumpf's firing during a congressional hearing about a year ago.

Mr. Sloan, however, apologized for the bank's conduct while defending his role as CEO, pointing to the changes that he's made while CEO over the past year.

"Wells Fargo is a better bank today than it was a year ago," he said in written testimony. "And next year, Wells Fargo will be a better bank than it is today. That is because we have spent the past year determined to earn back the public's trust."

No other Democrats have called for Mr. Sloan to lose his job. Wells Fargo picked Mr. Sloan to succeed Mr. Stumpf as CEO in part because he didn't have direct responsibility over the consumer unit where the sales problems occurred.

Write to Emily Glazer at emily.glazer@wsj.com and Andrew Ackerman at andrew.ackerman@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 03, 2017 11:56 ET (15:56 GMT)