Warren Calls on Fed Chairman Powell to Commit to a Public Vote on Wells Fargo's Remediation Plans
Senator Urges Powell to Release Third Party Review of how Bank is Implementing Reforms
Washington, DC - United States Senator Elizabeth Warren
(D-Mass.) sent a letter to Chairman of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell
calling on him to formally commit to a Board of Governors vote on whether Wells
Fargo's remediation plans are satisfactory under the terms of the February 2,
2018 consent order between the Federal Reserve and Wells Fargo. She also asked
Chairman Powell to commit to releasing as much of the third-party review of
Wells Fargo's implementation of the plans.
The consent order prohibits Wells Fargo from growing any larger until it makes
certain improvements. Under the order's terms, Wells Fargo must submit a plan
to make its board of directors more effective and a plan to improve its risk
management policies to the Board by mid-April. During a March 1st Senate
Banking Committee hearing,
Chairman Powell said he intended to delegate the Board's decision about whether
to accept Wells Fargo's remediation plans to staff. Senator Warren asked
Chairman Powell to "consider requiring a vote of the Fed before"
approving a plan and Chairman Powell said he would.
In her letter, Senator Warren pressed Chairman Powell to formally commit to requiring
a vote by the Fed's governors. "Requiring Senate-confirmed governors to
vote on important enforcement decisions allows Congress and the American public
to hold them accountable for their actions," wrote Senator Warren.
"Given the breadth of wrongdoing at Wells Fargo and the enormous number of
consumers affected, the Fed's governors - not its staff - should be responsible
for determining whether Wells Fargo is complying with the consent order."
Also during the March 1st hearing, Senator Warren asked Chairman Powell to
publicly release the third-party review - required by the consent order - of
Wells Fargo's implementation of the plans. Chairman Powell said he would
release what he could "if there is a way to do it that is faithful to
(y)our obligations and (the Board's) practices. In her letter, Senator Warren
urged Chairman Powell to release as much of the third party review as possible
so Congress and the public can assess how the bank is trying to correct its
conduct.
"Wells Fargo scammed more than a million consumers across many of its
business lines," wrote Senator Warren. "The public deserves to see
that the Board is strictly enforcing its order." Senator Warren requested
a response from Chairman Powell no later than April 19, 2018.
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