Sen. Warren to Wells Fargo CEO: "You should be fired." (C-SPAN)

Thank You senator Warren Thank You mr. chairman mr. Sloane when you were named CEO after the fake account scandal you were asked why a career as a Wells Fargo insider like you why that made you the right person to fix the fundamental problems at the bank and you said quote because I've been making change for 29 plus years at Wells Fargo so I want to take a look at your time at Wells Fargo from 2011 to 2014 the height of when Wells Fargo was cheating customers by opening fake accounts you served as the chief financial officer and as CFO you spoke to potential Wells Fargo investors a lot on those calls you aggressively promoted Wells Fargo's ability to open up new accounts didn't you know I didn't know you didn't know well here are the transcripts from all of the investor earnings calls that you participated in from 2011 to 2014 I've read through them and on these calls no one not even John Stumpf who was the CEO at the time bragged more about Wells Fargo's ability and commitment to open new accounts for existing customers in the April 2011 call for example I think I've marked that one you said I can't wait to get a credit card in every one of our creditworthy customers wallets nothing about whether your customers wanted or needed a Wells Fargo credit card all that mattered was opening new accounts so while you were bragging to investors about opening new accounts on these calls from 2011 to 2014 you also personally owned roughly 2 million shares of Wells Fargo stock is that right senator I don't recall how much stock I owned well Farb I'm a very loud in your SEC filing sure it's public that's all out there two million shares so it looks like you had a really good thing going talk up Wells Fargo's ability to open new accounts get investors excited and hey if the stock goes up by a dollar you make a cool two million bucks then in December 2013 almost three years into your time as CFO the LA Times published a long article on the relentless pressure Wells Fargo put on employees to open new accounts the article was based on a review of internal Wells Fargo documents court filings interviews with more than 30 current and former Wells Fargo employees the article specifically said that employees had opened fake accounts in response to this pressure now you were interviewed for that piece mr. Sloan and you said quote I'm not aware of any overbearing sales culture hmmm that is really interesting phrasing I'm not aware of any problem so when the LA Times came to you and showed you concrete evidence of a terrible problem with fake accounts at your bank did you launch an investigation into the issue before brushing it off senator first as it relates to my comments in 2011 I'm proud of the credit card products that we have I'm asking I just asked you brushed it off you said I'm not aware of any problem did you open an investigation when someone laid out evidence of fake accounts I Center that in an interview to the best of my recollection with the LA Times they didn't provide me with any information it was soon after that that as I mentioned you did not open interview you did not open an inquiry into it is that right senator again the LA Times didn't provide me with any documentation it was a phone call did you read the article I read the article yes and then you opened an investigation immediately they at the same time the article was coming out that was a time when the community bank elevated this issue to the seniors that's the time that we began to take action let's talk about that time you didn't look into the fake accounts but you went right back to pumping up the stock price by bragging about Wells Fargo's record number of new accounts on your very next investor call now let's forward to 2016 two months before the fake account scandal became public you were then the chief operating officer of Wells Fargo an interviewer asked you whether you thought the bank had pushed sales goals and cross-selling too far and your answer was quote no the fundamental strategy that we have is not going to change that is July of 2016 just before this breaks open according to Wells Fargo's own investigation by July of 2016 you knew that thousands of employees had been fired for opening fake accounts and other sales violations you knew aggressive cross-selling goals were to blame and still you publicly said the bank didn't have a problem right senator that's incorrect you could you read the entire quote and can we go through the entire presentation because employees too far your answer was no the fundamental strategy that we have is not going to change and that's a month and I was referring to I was referring to the vision of our company's vision senator every time I give a presentation or our team members I start with our vision which is to ground people in the culture of our company which is that our job is to satisfy our customers financial needs and to help them succeed financially that's the context that I made that statement since I become CEO I've made the fundamental changes to address the issues that we're talking about today mr. Sloane you were asked about pressure on employees which caused the fake account scandal we all know that now it's public you knew there was a problem and when you were asked about it you lied this is about personal responsibility Wells Fargo cheated millions of people for years the Federal Reserve should remove all of the current board members who served during the fake account scam and mr. Sloane you say you've been making changes at Wells Fargo for 30 years but you enabled this fake account scam you got rich off it and then you tried to cover it up at best you were incompetent at worst you were complicit and either way you should be fired Wells Fargo needs to start over and that won't happen until the bank rids itself of people like you who let it into this crisis Thank You mr. chairman could I respond to that yes you may okay I want an equal amount of time senator a couple things first and I'll get to your criticism me in a moment but first let's talk about the board I think the board has taken very important steps in terms of a thorough independent investigation that's been made public right that's number one number two the board has taken very strong action in terms of executive accountability that is unfortunately some of the highest and corporate in American history again unfortunate so I don't believe that that your criticism aboard are accurate as it relates to me again I think the reason that I'm the right person to run this company today notwithstanding a criticism is because I have been making change at this company for 30 years I have made mistakes I certainly haven't been perfect but I think having that knowledge of the company having the ability to make the change the actions that I've taken since I become CEO 11 months ago have made the fundamental change at this company so I'm not afraid to make hard decisions when it's needed and I have the support of 270 people that's why I think I'm the right person can I just make a short comment in there I know we're I know we're over but you really want to say are you kidding you know look you've been there for 30 years and every one of my colleagues on both the Republican side and the Democratic side who spoken so far have talked about a broken culture at Wells Fargo have talked about the fact that the problem starts with leadership the people who were there and leading Wells Fargo during the time of a years-long scam and multiple scams as our chairman pointed out those people should not be left in charge of this business and when you promoted exactly what was wrong with this Bank over and over and over you went to the stock market and you bragged about it you made money personally off it when you were asked about it you did not tell the truth and you tried to cover it up Wells Fargo is not going to change with you in charge

Channel: C-SPAN

Views: 1,420,252

Rating: 4.7705512 out of 5

Keywords: Wells Fargo, Elizabeth Warren, Senate, U.S. Senate, C-SPAN, CSPAN

Id: AyVr4qcn8EM

Length: 9min 59sec (599 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 03 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/PresidentWordSalad]

If every state could contribute one Elizabeth Warren to the US Senate, we might be able to fix this nation.

[u/TheDudeMachine]

Stuff like this is why I'm on board with Warren. Wow she goes hard here and drills that slimy POS. If she's not President, at the very least she needs to be Secretary of the Treasury.

He tries to make every answer a canned commercial for WF "I'm very proud of our credit card products at Wells Fargo..." and she cuts him off I love it. Also, and maybe this is just a pet peeve, but I really, REALLY hate how banks call their crap "products". It's not a product, you can't "buy" a credit card or a loan or whatever... those are financial agreements between two parties that each in kind will hold up their end. A product is an item that has a set perceived value

BTW I work in finance and I've worked at a large bank (not WF) and while I believe I worked for one of the mostly good ones, there's still stuff that goes on behind closed doors that the account holders aren't aware of. For example, do you know that banks have their own unique credit scoring system that factors into whether or not you get approved for a credit card or loan? You could legit have a 750 credit score from TransUnion, but the bank's arbitrary system identifies you as a high risk person and assigns you a score of 620, which according to underwriting polices means you're an automatic turn down. I saw this happen many times over, and while it did seem to improve in the final months before I left, this still should 100% be illegal.

We need people like Elizabeth Warren to bring real, meaningful change, and she's the only candidate who is passionate about protecting consumers' rights and will see to it that you as an individual are protected from slimeball companies like Wells Fargo, who by the way are still engaging in gross, egregious violations of various kinds.

[u/aerostar193]

I think this is why a lot of people gravitate toward Warren. Powerful villains live among us, and she's one of the only people brave enough to name them and demand better, right to their faces.

[u/Ranklaykeny]

This is the kind of planning that brought me on board. In questioning him she had EVERYTHING on him and knew how it would start and end.

[u/Russ-B-Fancy]

How about imprisoned?

[u/adelineblair]

The younger generations lean left because democratic politicians seem to be the only ones who give a shit

[u/FetishizedStupidity]

This was one of the most powerful things to ever be uttered in the senate. 12/10 would watch again

[u/marykatiepants]

This is one of my favorite E Warren videos.

[u/PapaSnork]

How much you want to bet that crap on his arm was some "Better Call Saul"-level BS trying to evoke sympathy? Also, an excellent display of the "Never ask a question you don't already know the answer to" rule.