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 the credit-card lender Providian Financial who doesn't have any corporate-communications experience.
• Meanwhile, 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 on Tuesday attended by hundreds of Wells Fargo corporate-communications staff members, an employee asked how the bank should respond to inquiries 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 critical headlines. ...

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