Although we anticipated a very tough hearing for Wells Fargo’s CEO (see Client Report REFORM126), today’s Senate Banking session was not only merciless, but also in several instances deadly. In this report, we lay out the issues senators on both sides of the aisle raised, with several of them suggesting not only that criminal referrals have been made and that the OCC plans additional civil actions, but also that the case will be referred to the SEC for securities-law violations. Wells Fargo’s John Stumpf suggested that the scope of the problem was not material, leading senators to challenge this and raise questions about the extent to which the bank is too big to manage or regulate. Given the scope of questioning on Wells Fargo itself, we emphasize in this report lines of Congressional inquiry with broader industry impact.
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