Wells Fargo has at least found a new Chief Executive Officer.
Wells Fargo has named Charles Scharf, Bank of New York Mellon’s chairman and CEO, as its president and CEO.
Scharf began his career in finance as a mentee of Jamie Dimon, following him all the way from serving as his personal assistant at Commercial Credit to the upper ranks of JP Morgan, where Scharf served as CEO of Retail Financial Services for nine years between July 2004 and June 2012. He was also once the managing director of One Equity Partners, JPM’s private investment vehicle.
The longtime banker is currently CEO of BNY Mellon, and previously served as the CEO of Visa. In that role, he joined the heads of other American banking giants, including his mentor Jamie Dimon, in an appearance before the House Financial Services Committee earlier this year, where he famously was forced to explain, over and over again, that, unlike everyone else at the hearing, he was the CEO of a custody bank – and custody banks don’t participate in as many controversial businesses that typically attract the ire of lawmakers like, say, underwriting mortgages.
He’s also known as an advocate of bringing technology to banking; he currently serves as a member of Microsoft’s board.
Interestingly enough, the Wells Fargo press release revealed that Scharf will continue to work from New York, instead of moving to San Francisco, where Wells’s headquarters is located.
Scharf replaces former CEO Tim Sloan, who resigned in March after 31 years at the fourth-largest U.S. bank. After his departure, the bank promised to find somebody outside of Wells Fargo, while Warren Buffett, one of its biggest shareholders via Berkshire Hathaway, advised it to “look beyond Wall Street” to try and find somebody more amenable to the public.
Source: Zerohedge and Yahoo Finance
Wells Fargo stocks are rising after today opening bell with a huge gap more than 3 percent. Currently the growth after announcement is around 4 percent per stock near 50.6 USD. Will the new CEO stabilize the situation and will the WFC meet its goals?
