Wells Fargo CEO Tells Congress Bank’s Model Is ‘Flawed’
Scharf also says the bank has some 62,000 employees working from home due to the coronavirus.
Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf told lawmakers on Tuesday that the bank had a “flawed business model” and that the “culture was broken.” He also said that his company had “not yet done what is necessary to address our shortcomings,” according to a Bloomberg report.
Appearing before the House Financial Services Committee to discuss the fake-account scandals — for which Wells Fargo recently said it would pay the SEC and Department of Justice $3 billion — Scharf said, “The sense of urgency within the company is very different today than it was four months ago [when he was hired]. “We’re going to have a much stronger centralized core when it comes to risk and control.”
The congressional panel focused the hearings on what it called “next steps for the bank that broke America’s trust.”
Scharf also addressed the bank’s response to the coronavirus, saying some 62,000 Wells Fargo employees worked from home Monday. As for himself, “I do not telecommute,” he said.
Wells Fargo’s remediation plans are slated to extend into 2021.