Wells Fargo’s new CEO Tim Sloan apologized to employees on Tuesday for the “pain” they were caused by the company’s fraudulent sales practices.
Sloan, a 26-year veteran of the company, did not outline whether he plans to make amends on behalf of the company’s 260,000 employees. But he did say in a company-wide speech that they should “expect more tough headlines, as additional accountability actions occur, and other investigations and reviews are completed … some that is going to be very painful for us.”
The bank created nearly 2 million fake bank and credit card accounts in an apparent attempt to meet growth quotas.
“Many felt we blamed our team members. That one still hurts, and I am committed to rectifying it,” Sloan said. He did not say if Wells Fargo has remedied claims by employees that they faced retaliation after they blew the whistle on the bank’s practices.
Despite the apology, some lawmakers still say the bank has not done enough to rectify the situation, and argue it should not have promoted a long-term employee who likely knew about the scandal before it broke.
Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Robert Menendez of New Jersey wrote a letter to Wells Fargo’s board of directors last week commending former CEO John Stumpf for resigning, but also asked how Sloan could not have been aware of the company’s fraudulent policies.
