Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan retires suddenly

Wells Fargo & Co. CEO Tim Sloan announced his retirement on Thursday, Los Angeles Times reported. Sloan stepped down as CEO, president and board member effective immediately, and the company’s general counsel C. Allen Parker will serve as his interim replacement until new CEO is hired. Wells Fargo is looking to hire a new CEO from outside the bank so they are not connected to the ongoing scandal.

In 2016, the bank admitted to having created multiple accounts for its clients without authorisation, amounting to millions of unauthorised checking, savings and credit card accounts. The proceedings had taken place as early as 2002, and many criticised the choice of Sloan for the CEO position as he is believed to have known about the problems before they became public knowledge.

Although the bank announced it was getting rid of the system of incentives that triggered the opening of unauthorised accounts, it was reported the bank didn’t go through with the changes and “has not fixed its culture of fear and intimidation.”

“There’s just been too much focus on me and it’s impacting our ability to move forward," said Sloan.

Sloan will receive a retirement package worth approximately $52 million.