‘Widespread and persistent failures:’ Senators demand Wells Fargo CEO testify again

Wells Fargo’s CEO and board chairwoman should be made to testify before Congress following the bank’s “rampant consumer abuses” revealed over the past year, some Senate Democrats said Thursday.

Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, the top Democrat on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs committee, and other Democratic committee members called for a hearing with Wells CEO Tim Sloan and chairwoman Betsy Duke. The request was made in a letter to committee Chairman Mike Crapo, of Idaho.

Wells Fargo said in a statement that the bank welcomes “the opportunity to continue to provide the committee with information on these matters and to affirm our commitment to our customers, team members and communities.”

The letter comes a year after Sloan testified before the committee over the bank’s 2016 sales scandal, in which regulators accused Wells’ employees of opening millions of accounts without customer authorization to meet sales goals.

More than a dozen “widespread and persistent failures” by Wells have come to light since Sloan’s October 2017 appearance, the letter said.

“In the time since his testimony, yet more scandals have mounted at the bank, despite claims by Mr. Sloan and other executives that Wells Fargo was on course to remediate its problems,” the letter said.

Another hearing is needed, “given the seriousness of past enforcement actions, a history of inadequate response on behalf of Wells Fargo’s senior leadership, and continued reports of misconduct,” the letter said.

Crapo’s office referred questions to the committee. Committee spokeswoman Amanda Critchfield would not comment.

This story was originally published October 4, 2018 at 4:18 PM.