Wells Fargo CEO: ‘Absolutely open for business’
Despite agreeing to pay $1 billion in fines, Wells Fargo is “absolutely open for business,” CEO Tim Sloan told FOX Business.
Earlier this month, the nation’s third-largest bank settled federal allegations related to mortgage and auto-lending abuses. And while the Federal Reserve required Wells Fargo in February not to increase the size of its balance sheet beyond $1.95 trillion, Sloan said that order is not a death knell.
“We have almost a $2 trillion balance sheet at the end of last year – the underlying company is growing,” he said. “We just need to balance being able to operate underneath the asset cap that we have with the Fed and also service our customers. We’re absolutely open for business.”
In another setback for Wells Fargo, the Labor Department said last week it’s looking into the bank’s retirement plan practices.
Wells Fargo has been under regulatory scrutiny since 2016, when the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) fined $100 million for the illegal practice of secretly opening unauthorized deposit and credit card accounts.
Sloan said he is “confident” the company has made the necessary changes to improve risk management in the company and he added that regulators would not stop the company from paying dividends.