Wells Fargo insiders say they're facing a firestorm without clear PR leadership

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• Oscar Suris, Wells Fargo's head of corporate communications, left the bank in July and won't be replaced.
• His duties will be subsumed into those of Jim Rowe, a former CFO at credit card lender Providian Financial who doesn't have any corporate communications experience.
• The decision not to replace Suris comes as Wells is battling to repair its reputation in the wake of scandals in its consumer bank, mortgage business, auto finance unit, and wealth management operation.

On a weekly call attended by hundreds of Wells Fargo corporate communications staff, an employee on Tuesday asked how the bank should respond to inquires about its tarnished reputation, according to people familiar with the call.

Senior executives didn't have a ready answer, the people said.

The exchange exposed a situation that's not sitting well with some employees: Wells Fargo no longer has a head of public relations as the bank grapples with a multitude of scandals and bad headlines.

Wells' former head of communications, Oscar Suris, left the bank in July and his duties will be taken over by Jim Rowe, head of stakeholder relations, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Almost 400 of the firm's internal and external communications staff, including Suris's direct reports, now report to Rowe.

Corporate communications professionals are charged with setting forward strategy and shaping the company message in dealings with the media, and for formulating responses to legal or reputational issues as they arise. And to be clear, Wells Fargo still has spokespeople, and senior leaders in corporate communications.

But Rowe, while generally liked around Wells, lacks any experience handling media relations, according to sources and his LinkedIn profile. He worked for credit card lender Providian Financial, rising to the role of chief financial officer, before joining Wells Fargo in March 2005.

He was head of investor relations before his naming as head of stakeholder relations in July 2017, and in his new role he oversees investor relations, government relations and public policy.

Employees' frustration at what they perceive as a lack of PR leadership has surfaced on other calls as well, including one held in the days after Suris left the bank, the people said. During that call, staff questioned whether the decision not to replace Suris would leave the company without proper senior leadership within the communications team and vulnerable to a deluge of bad press, one of the people said.

"Having someone on hand who can position the company in a positive light is, now, more important than ever," said Brad Adgate, an independent media consultant based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "There is so much scrutiny being placed on corporate America and its activities, not having a seasoned pro, someone who can manage the message like an expert, is risky. It may work out for them, but it's pretty risky."

Big banks like JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup have corporate communications chiefs whose job is to set direction for and actively manage each firm's communications strategy, for example.

In a statement provided to Business Insider, a Wells spokesman said a key goal of its stakeholder relations unit is "to develop a stakeholder model that facilitates engagement in a proactive, consistent and flexible way and leverages the strong capabilities we have within Wells Fargo. Key among these capabilities are those that reside within our best-in-class communications team and function."

Wells' reputational issues began with the fake account scandal in 2016, when the firm said employees had opened millions of customer accounts without their consent in order to meet sales targets. The revelation forced the resignation of CEO John Stumpf. Tim Sloan, his replacement, has been battling to overcome the scandal and a series of subsequent issues.

Wells Fargo has tried to rebrand itself, running television advertisements and billboards, including one positioned at the mouth of the Lincoln Tunnel going from Manhattan to New Jersey, with the slogan: "Established 1852. Re-established 2018, with a commitment to you."

But the bank spurred new outrage this month when it said in a securities filing that it had discovered an error that prevented more than 600 homeowners from getting a mortgage modification between 2010 and 2015. For 400 of those homeowners, the mistake meant that the bank took away their home.

A recent report from M Science, a web-based analytics platform that relies on algorithms to spot social media trends, highlighted the depth of the challenge: Negative sentiment toward Wells Fargo had risen to a six-year high.