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Sloan will appear before the Senate Banking Committee, which
writes rules for his industry, at a hearing titled "Wells Fargo:
One Year Later," on October 3.
Wells Fargo spokeswoman Jennifer Dunn declined to comment. No
one from Sidley Austin was available to comment outside of
office hours.
The testimony will be Sloan's first congressional appearance
since he took over as CEO in October of last year, roughly a
month after Wells Fargo reached a settlement with regulators
over the creation of as many as 2.1 million unauthorized
accounts.
The bank has since disclosed problems with other products,
including auto and life insurance, and recently revised its
estimate for the number of accounts that were potentially opened
without customers' authorization to 3.5 million.
In his own congressional appearances last year, Sloan's
predecessor, John Stumpf, often lacked answers to questions
posed by legislators. Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren
accused him of "gutless leadership." He left the bank less than
a month later and was replaced by Sloan.
The law firm that prepared Stumpf for his testimony, Gibson
Dunn, will still be working for Wells Fargo, but in a supporting
role, said one of the sources.
No one from Gibson Dunn was immediately available to comment
outside of office hours.
Hundreds of outside law firms work for Wells Fargo on various
matters, and the bank's new general counsel, Allen Parker,
recently hired a new chief operating officer for the legal team,
Tom Trujillo, who is reviewing those relationships.
The hiring of Sidley Austin, however, was directed by Wells
Fargo's government affairs office, said one of the sources.
(Reporting by Dan Freed; Editing by Carmel Crimmins and Mary
Milliken)
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