Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf: Fully Accountable For Unethical Practices | CNBC — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00I'm the chairman and chief executive
2. 0:01officer of Wells Fargo where I've worked
3. 0:04for nearly 35 years it is my privileged
4. 0:08to lead this company which was founded
5. 0:10over 164 years ago and played a vital
6. 0:15role in the financial history and
7. 0:17development of our
8. 0:19country I am deeply sorry that we failed
9. 0:23to fulfill our responsibility to our
10. 0:26customers to our team members and to the
11. 0:28American public
12. 0:30I am fully accountable for all unethical
13. 0:34sales practices in our retail banking
14. 0:36business and I'm fully committed to
15. 0:39fixing this issue strengthening our
16. 0:41culture and taking the necessary steps
17. 0:44and actions to restore our customers
18. 0:47trust we should have done more sooner
19. 0:51but we we will not stop working until we
20. 0:53get this right this morning I will
21. 0:56update you on a number of steps taken to
22. 1:00address our Retail Bank sales practices
23. 1:02problem and make things right for
24. 1:05customers who may have been
25. 1:08harmed at Wells Fargo we have new
26. 1:10leadership in our retail banking
27. 1:12business focused on ensuring that all
28. 1:14team members in our Retail Bank provide
29. 1:16the best service to our
30. 1:18customers secondly we recently announced
31. 1:21the elimination of product sales goals
32. 1:24for everyone in retail banking effective
33. 1:26January 1 today I am announcing that we
34. 1:30are accelerating this process and ending
35. 1:32all product sales goals effective at the
36. 1:35end of this week we want to make sure
37. 1:38nothing gets in the way of doing what is
38. 1:40right for our
39. 1:42customers also we now send out to all
40. 1:46customers a confirmation email
41. 1:48approximately 1 hour after opening a
42. 1:50savings or checking account and an
43. 1:53acknowledgment letter after a customer
44. 1:55applies for a credit
45. 1:57card we're also making it right for
46. 2:01customers we have begun contacting the
47. 2:04customers with open credit cards
48. 2:06identified by Price waterous Coopers to
49. 2:09determine whether they wanted these
50. 2:12credit cards it's early in the process
51. 2:15but so far we have reached more than
52. 2:1720,000 of these customers and talked to
53. 2:20them about their credit card
54. 2:22accounts fewer than 25% have told us
55. 2:25they either did not apply for the card
56. 2:28or they cannot recall call whether they
57. 2:30applied or not for the card for those
58. 2:34customers who want the card the card
59. 2:36will remain open for any customer who
60. 2:39does not want their card we are closing
61. 2:41the account and informing the credit
62. 2:44bureaus any fees these customers may
63. 2:47have paid already has been refunded and
64. 2:51we are developing a process to deal with
65. 2:53any other forms of
66. 2:55harm for deposit customers we have
67. 2:58refunded fees and are contacting every
68. 3:01single one of them across the country to
69. 3:03ensure that we have a full understanding
70. 3:05of every customer affected by this
71. 3:08problem in addition we are voluntarily
72. 3:11expand expanding the scope of the
73. 3:13reviews we have done to go back in time
74. 3:16to 2010 and
75. 3:182009 while these issues we will discuss
76. 3:21today are deeply disappointing and will
77. 3:24take time to to repair they do not re
78. 3:28represent the true culture
79. 3:30and nature of Wells
80. 3:32Fargo some have suggested the problem
81. 3:34was cross- selling but that is not the
82. 3:37case at its core cross- selling is all
83. 3:40about deepening customer household
84. 3:42relationships with products they want
85. 3:45they use and they
86. 3:47value it is not about improper sales
87. 3:50practices used to create unwanted
88. 3:52accounts that's not good for our
89. 3:54customers and not good for Wells
90. 3:57Fargo if we take care of our customers
91. 3:59they will deepen their relationships
92. 4:01with us and trust us more with their
93. 4:03business that is good for customers who
94. 4:05benefit from lower costs we pass on and
95. 4:08that is cross- selling done the right
96. 4:10way in closing I'd like to talk about my
97. 4:14commitment to
98. 4:15accountability when I say I am
99. 4:17accountable I'm referring to the actions
100. 4:19our board took at my recommendation to
101. 4:22Forfeit the stock awards that are the
102. 4:24largest part of my compensation for the
103. 4:26past three years and any bonus this year
104. 4:29and as well as my agreement to work
105. 4:31without salary until the board completes
106. 4:33its investigation I respect and accept
107. 4:37the board's
108. 4:38decision and when I say I'm accountable
109. 4:40I also mean accountable for leading
110. 4:42Wells Fargo as the company restores the
111. 4:44trust of customers team members and
112. 4:47investors thank you for this opportunity
113. 4:49to testify
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