"You should be fired," Elizabeth Warren told Wells Fargo CEO Timothy J. Sloan during a heated exchange at a hearing of the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday.
The longtime Wall Street critic was responding to statements made by Sloan, who spoke out against criticism that not enough had been done to reform the company after secretly opening unauthorized accounts and credit card accounts for customers without their knowledge last year, The Washington Post noted.
Speaking to the committee Sloan, who took over Wells Fargo from ousted CEO John Stumpf last year, admitted he was angry about how the problems were handled and assured something like last year’s scandal should never happen again.
However, lawmakers from both parties were skeptical.
Warren said Sloan had introduced an aggressive sales culture into Wells Fargo by emphasizing the company’s track record for opening new accounts.
This, she said, pressured employees into opening the fake accounts.
"At best, you were incompetent, and at worst, you were complicit," Warren told him, per The Washington Post. "Either way, you should be fired."
Sloan insisted that fundamental changes have been enforced in the business to effect change in its corporate culture but, according to CNN, was slammed by Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana who questioned what the CEO had been thinking.
Senator Sherrod Brown weighed in on the matter, stating that Wells Fargo had taken great measures to bury the scandal through clauses that could prevent customers from taking legal action, while Senator Brian Schatz went as far as to suggest that the bank be shut down completely.
Sloan was adamant that the issue could be resolved.
"I heard you — and I heard our customers and our team members — loud and clear," he said before the committee, according to The Washington Post. "You expect us to do better, and so do we."
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