FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, March 28, 2019
Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or njacobs@bettermarkets.com

Washington, D.C.  –  Dennis Kelleher, President and Chief Executive Officer of Better Markets, issued the following statement on the announcement of the coming retirement of Wells Fargo CEO, Tim Sloan:

“Before it became a customer predator, Wells Fargo was America’s bank, focused on and serving Main Street families and businesses for more than 160 years. That was in stark contrast to Wall Street’s bailed-out too-big-to-fail banks, which remain too focused on bonus-boosting trading and capital markets activities.

“Wells Fargo’s Board of Directors now has a unique opportunity to pick a CEO who will return the bank to the heights of its storied past. But that will require the Board to reject CEO candidates with primarily capital markets, investment banking and trading experience.  That culture will infect and destroy the core of what made Wells Fargo unique, successful and trusted.

“The Board must pick a bank leader deeply experienced in retail and commercial banking.It has to be someone who is obsessively customer focused, not someone who views customers as counterparties, Muppets or profit centers to be maximized, even if not technically ripped off or plundered.”

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Better Markets is a non-profit, non-partisan, and independent organization founded in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to promote the public interest in the financial markets, support the financial reform of Wall Street and make our financial system work for all Americans again. Better Markets works with allies – including many in finance – to promote pro-market, pro-business and pro-growth policies that help build a stronger, safer financial system that protects and promotes Americans’ jobs, savings, retirements and more. To learn more, visit www.bettermarkets.com.