'Wells Fargo has been out of order for years!': Wells Fargo's shareholder meeting gets rowdy
Multiple shareholders stood and yelled at the board of directors and Chief Executive Tim Sloan. The shareholders were angry about the bank's creation of as many as 2.1 million phony accounts in customers' names.
"You're saying we're out of order. Wells Fargo has been out of order for years!" the ejected shareholder said. Sloan and Chairman Stephen Sanger repeatedly asked him to sit down because he was out of order, and then called a recess, only to have other shareholders stand and yell.
Wells Fargo has come under fire in recent months after it was discovered that employees in its retail banking business had been creating accounts under customer's names without their knowledge for years. The scandal led to a settlement with regulators, congressional hearings, and eventually the resignation of former CEO John Stumpf.
An internal investigation conducted by the bank's board of directors found Stumpf and former head of community banking Carrie Tolstedt were to blame for a culture of high pressure sales tactics that led to the scandal, but mostly deflected blame from the board.
In response, a campaign to oust the board members was launched and had the backing of major pension funds including Calpers, the public pension fund for California. The bid to oust the board is expected to come up just short in a vote at the meeting on Tuesday.