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Wells Fargo & Co. said Wednesday that Sarah Dahlgren, a former executive at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, will join the troubled company on March 12 as head of regulatory relations.

Wells Fargo said Dahlgren, who could not immediately be reached for comment, will work with federal regulators and with colleagues across the country to coordinate efforts with regulators in other jurisdictions. She will be based in New York; the company is based in San Francisco.

Her hiring is part of a legal and compliance makeover after the bank found itself under serious federal scrutiny in 2016 for opening 3.5 million phony bank accounts. The bank paid $185 million that year in penalties to regulators, and has since brought in a new CEO, general counsel, and chief compliance officer. It has also replaced numerous other executives.

Sarah Dahlgren. Courtesy Photo.

Dahlgren will report directly to chief risk officer Mike Loughlin, who announced his retirement last month. The company said he will remain in the post through a transition period. A replacement has not yet been named.

“Wells Fargo is focused on transforming our risk management practices and we are committed to being very engaged and completely transparent with our regulators,” said a statement from bank CEO Tim Sloan. “Hiring a leader with Sarah's background is another important step in strengthening our risk infrastructure and organization.”

Dahlgren was most recently a partner in the risk practice group at McKinsey & Co., a high-profile global management consulting firm. She also holds seats on the boards of both the President's Council of Cornell Women and the Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy, according to her company bio.

Before joining McKinsey in 2016, she worked 25 years at the New York Fed, most recently as executive vice president and head of financial institution supervision. In that role, she oversaw some of the largest banks in the U.S.

Working with Timothy Geithner, president of the New York Fed until he became U.S. Treasury secretary in 2009, Dahlgren played a key role in how the Fed and the country responded to the 2008 financial crisis. She helped create the bailout that kept American International Group Inc. out of bankruptcy.

Loughlin, the CRO, said, “Sarah's deep understanding of financial services regulation is a welcome addition to our corporate risk team.”

Besides the Federal Reserve, Wells Fargo answers to numerous other regulators. The accounts scandal settlement, for example, was reached with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Los Angeles City Attorney.

The OCC in particular has been especially critical of Wells Fargo's risk controls and has threatened enforcement action, according to a recent Wall Street Journal article. The OCC concerns focus on the bank's overall approach to catching and preventing problems that can harm customers, the article said.