Rep Waters Backs Ouster Of Wells Fargo CEO Over Bonus

U.S. Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) called for Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan to step down from his job after it was revealed that he received a $2 million bonus last year. The bank disclosed Sloan’s compensation this week, including the fact that he received a 5 percent increase in total pay, bringing his salary to $18.4 million — including the $2 million bonus — in 2018.

“It is outrageous, and wholly inappropriate, that the bank has rewarded Mr. Sloan with a $2 million bonus for 2018,” Waters said in an emailed statement, according to CNBC. She added that, last year, “federal regulators and authorities capped the bank’s growth, and fined the bank more than $3 billion for offenses, such as improperly charging customers auto insurance and mortgage fees.”

Waters questioned Sloan during a four-hour hearing on Tuesday (March 12) about Wells Fargo’s consumer abuse issues. Sloan became the first bank head to appear before the House Committee on Financial Services after democrats gained control of the House.

“It was very clear from Mr. Sloan’s testimony that Wells Fargo has failed to clean up its act,” Waters said. “Mr. Sloan shouldn’t be getting a bonus; he should be shown the door.”

Other politicians — including Senator Elizabeth Warren, who is running for president — have also called for Sloan to resign. In fact, Wall Street analysts are speculating that the CEO is in danger of losing his job.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) also said this week that it “continued to be disappointed” with the bank’s efforts on risk management and corporate governance. The bank reported that full-year 2018 revenue decreased about by 2.3 percent to $86.4 billion, while fourth-quarter revenue came in at about $21 billion, a decline of approximately 5 percent and short of analyst expectations.

Sloan is also scheduled to testify on April 10 with other chiefs from JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. The hearing will be the first time all the bank heads have testified together since the financial crisis.