Exclusive: U.S. regulator removes top
examiner for Wells Fargo - sources
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[April 08, 2017]
By Patrick Rucker
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The most senior bank
examiner for Wells Fargo & Co <WFC.N> has been removed by a U.S.
regulator in the wake of the bank's unauthorized accounts scandal,
people familiar with the matter told Reuters this week.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the lead regulator for
national banks, stripped the examiner, Bradley Linskens, of his
supervisory powers within the last two weeks, said three sources, who
were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Linskens did not immediately respond to requests for comment. OCC
spokesman Bryan Hubbard declined to comment.
Wells Fargo's board is expected to release a report on Monday detailing
what went wrong at the fourth-largest U.S. bank, according to sources
familiar with the matter. The bank and its board both declined to
comment.
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In September, Wells Fargo reached a $190 million settlement with the OCC
and other regulators over its opening millions of accounts in customers'
names without their permission. At the time, the bank said as many as 2
million accounts were affected, but has since said the number might be
larger.
The report is the result of a seven-month investigation by Wells Fargo's
board of directors into how and why the sales abuses happened. Thousands
of employees were dismissed over the matter, and several have publicly
said they opened the fake accounts to hit aggressive sales targets set
by managers.
Wells Fargo now faces probes from other government agencies including
the Department of Justice, which is investigating whether any laws were
broken.
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A Wells Fargo logo is seen in New York City, U.S. January 10, 2017.
REUTERS/Stephanie Keith
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Linskens was responsible for day-to-day supervision of Wells Fargo
and managed a staff of more than 60 people, according to past
notices from the OCC. He joined the OCC in 1993 and earliest
oversight of Wells Fargo began in 2006.
In 2016, Linskens was honored with the title "senior national bank
examiner" and received accolades in a news release from Comptroller
Thomas Curry, who runs the OCC.
In September, Curry ordered an internal review of how the OCC
handled the Wells Fargo matter and whether the agency has "gaps in
our supervision."
That review is drawing to a close, said an OCC official.
(Reporting by Patrick Rucker; Editing by Lauren Tara LaCapra and
Lisa Shumaker)
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