These have been tough times for Wells Fargo (WFC ) and company Chairman and CEO John G. Stumpf.
The head of the giant bank – which is a dividend-paying stalwart – faced a scathing grilling the other day by the Senate Banking Committee over the bank’s creation of the two million phony bank and credit card accounts that employees had concocted to meet sales quotas.
Bipartisan Attack
The bank has agreed to a $185-million settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and has refunded more than $2 million to customers in the wake of the disclosures of the scheme. But that wasn’t enough for the senators. In a rare display of bipartisanship, Democrats and Republicans alike dug into Stumpf for his leadership failings.
As with everything these days, the Wells Fargo mess can be looked at through two distinctly different political lenses.
