Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf is no longer an advisor to the Federal Reserve.
On Thursday, Stumpf handed his resignation into the Federal Advisory Council, a group of 12 bank executives that advise the Fed board, according to a statement from a San Francisco Fed spokesperson. The CEO was appointed his role by the San Francisco Fed in 2014, though he didn’t assume his responsibilities until 2015.
The council members meet with the Fed’s Board of Governors four times a year in Washington D.C. To discuss economic and banking matters.
“John made a personal decision to resign as the Twelfth District’s representative to the Federal Advisory Council. His top priority is leading Wells Fargo,” a representative for Wells Fargo said in an emailed statement.
Though earlier on Thursday, five senators called for Stumpf to be replaced on the council, including Sens. Angus King, Elizabeth Warren, Jeff Merkley, Ron Wyden, and Maria Cantwell.
“It would be ironic if the Federal Reserve, a key federal banking regulator tasked in part with ensuring the fair and equitable treatment of consumers in financial transactions, continued to receive special insights and recommendations from senior management of a financial institution that just paid a record-breaking fine to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for ‘unfair’ and ‘abusive’ practices that placed consumers at financial risk,” they wrote in their letter.
The news comes as Wells Fargo (WFC) continues to face heavy scrutiny over creating some 2 million phony accounts. Stumpf has been asked to claw back his pay or even resign as a result.
On Tuesday, the CEO tried to apologize in front of the Senate, but the audience was unforgiving and left unsatisfied. The House Financial Services Committee has scheduled a hearing over the matter for Sept. 29, where it would like Stumpf to testify.
A representative for the San Francisco Fed told Coins2Day that a search process for his successor will begin soon.
