With General Counsel in Control, Wells Fargo Reports No Progress on Naming CEO
General counsel Allen Parker was named acting CEO in March while the bank’s board of directors continued its search for a new chief executive. A Wells Fargo spokesperson said Tuesday there is no update on naming a permanent CEO.
August 06, 2019 at 04:33 PM
2 minute read
While an increasing number of companies are promoting their general counsel into higher C-suite roles, troubled Wells Fargo & Co. remains stuck with its top lawyer starting his sixth month as acting CEO.
General counsel C. Allen Parker was named acting CEO in March while the bank’s board of directors continued its search for a new chief executive. Arati Randolph, Wells Fargo’s senior vice president for communications, said Tuesday there is no update on naming a permanent CEO.
As general counsel, Parker was brought in from outside the company to help clean up its legal problems after the bank was marred by a string of scandals—including the infamous creation of 3.5 million fake bank accounts in the names of real customers.
Parker continues the cleanup efforts as acting CEO, and some news reports have suggested he should receive the job permanently.
But federal regulators are rumored to want the company to bring in another outsider as CEO to assure a complete culture change at the bank.
At a July 31 press conference, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell danced around questions on the bank’s CEO job.
Asked whether the lack of a permanent CEO has hampered the bank’s reform progress, Powell declined to answer the question directly. But he said, “The problems at Wells Fargo that arose around risk management and the way they dealt with [consumers], are actually pretty deep, and I think the company realizes that, and they haven’t been fixed quickly. Frankly, we didn’t expect them to be fixed quickly.”
He said the bank will retain a growth cap imposed under an 18-month-old Fed enforcement action until the issues are completely fixed.
Asked if he was satisfied with the bank’s progress so far, Powell again avoided expressing any pleasure or displeasure with Parker’s efforts.
“The company is working away to address these issues,” Powell said. “They take it seriously. I think they see it as we do, as something that has to go deep.”
Wells Fargo’s Randolph said the bank would not comment on Powell’s statements.
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