CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Work to revamp Wells Fargo & Co. continues two-and-a-half years after the infamous fake accounts scandal erupted.
Tim Sloan, now former-chief executive at Wells Fargo, addressed some of what went wrong at the bank as the keynote speaker at the World Affairs Council of Charlotte luncheon on Thursday. He chalked it up to two main areas: a sales incentives plan that went off the rails and a management team that didn’t listen to its employees.
[ALSO READ: Wells Fargo CEO Sloan steps down after rocky tenure]
Wells Fargo uncovered problems across multiple lines of business following the revelation in 2016 of millions of fake accounts created without customers’ knowledge. As a result, the bank is operating under an asset cap until at least 2020, as required by federal regulators.
“We made some mistakes -- plain and simple,” Sloan said at Thursday’s luncheon.
Sloan, an employee for more than 31 years and CEO for more than two of those years, has sought to right the ship despite mounting criticism. That work will have to continue without Sloan at the helm, however, as he announced last week he will retire at the end of June. He stepped down immediately as CEO, president and board member.
Read more on his remarks in Charlotte here.