Wells Fargo & Co’s veteran chairman and chief executive officer, John Stumpf, has departed on Wednesday.
San Francisco-based Wells Fargo said Stumpf, was retiring and would be replaced as chief executive by President and Chief Operating Officer Tim Sloan.
The bank is splitting the role of chairman and CEO with Stephen Sanger, its lead director, becoming chairman.
Stumpf’s exit leaves Sloan with a steep challenge in rebuilding its reputation and overhauling its hard-charging sales culture without gutting profits. The new CEO will also contend with ongoing regulatory investigations and private litigation.
Tim Sloan (left), John Stumpf (right)
Tim Sloan will not have much time to prepare his pitch for Wall Street.
The newly installed chief executive of Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) will present third-quarter results on Friday, less than 48 hours after replacing John Stumpf at the helm of the bank.
Wells Fargo is expected to say how much money it has set aside for legal costs it can reasonably predict when management discusses results on Friday. At least nine separate regulators, prosecutors, enforcement agencies and congressional committees appear to be looking into the bank’s actions.
Less than 1% of Wells Fargo revenue comes from working with local governments, non-profit hospitals and universities, according to a presentation the bank made to investors earlier this year.
The bank has also lost some retail customers, though Wells is still opening more accounts than it is closing, senior executives said on an internal call on Monday (reported by the Wall Street Journal).