Lawmakers call for resignation of Wells Fargo chief

The bank’s reputation is under fire—and its chief, John Stumpf is feeling the heat. Here’s how he—and the brand—responded to questioning on Tuesday.

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When a brand’s reputation is on the line, sometimes an apology simply isn’t enough to save it from public scrutiny.

In early September, Wells Fargo reported it would pay $190 million in penalties and customer payouts, and that it had fired 5,300 employees after staffers allegedly created millions of unauthorized bank and credit card accounts in customers’ names without their permission.

In his testimony before the Senate banking committee on Tuesday, Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf promised to make good on the alleged wrongdoing.

From Newsweek:

Stumpf told the Senate Banking Committee that customers who had bogus accounts opened in their name will be made whole and compensated for any damage to their credit rating, but some Democratic senators called for his resignation.

He followed up with an apology to the panel—and Wells Fargo customers:

I am very sorry that that happened. That is not what we wanted to have happen.

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