C. Allen Parker was interrupted more than a dozen times during Wells Fargo & Co.’s annual meeting by activists who called executives “frauds” and “criminals” and demanded the interim chief executive officer turn the scandal-plagued bank around.
“Frauds, all of you,” one heckler shouted as Parker tried to deliver his opening remarks in Dallas on Tuesday. “Wells Fargo, you cannot be trusted,” yelled another.
“One of the wonderful things about shareholder democracy in this country is that we have meetings like this,” Parker said, imploring the activists to hold their remarks until the time set for investor comments later in the meeting.
Wells Fargo’s string of scandals began with the revelation that employees opened millions of potentially fake accounts to meet sales goals. Tim Sloan stepped down as CEO last month under mounting pressure from regulators, politicians and investors. Parker is leading the company while it searches for a new top executive.
Wells Fargo’s shareholders have grappled with a change at the top twice since the fake-account scandal erupted in late 2016 and led to the exit of CEO John Stumpf.
After Sloan, a three-decade insider, rose to the top job, issues continued to emerge across business lines. Regulators indicated repeatedly that the San Francisco-based bank hasn’t done enough to clean things up. Sloan’s successor may still inherit 14 outstanding consent orders and more than a dozen ongoing investigations.
Chair Betsy Duke said at Tuesday’s meeting that the search for a new CEO is well underway, and that the bank won’t be giving any more updates on its progress until a decision is made.
Investors retained Duke and the rest of Wells Fargo’s board. All directors were approved with at least 95 percent support, according to preliminary results announced at the meeting.
More than half of the board has joined since the bank’s scandals first came to light. John Baker II and James Quigley, who were among eight directors receiving less than 70 percent of votes two years ago, are still on the board.
Board Pressed