Wells Fargo CEO Defends Bank Culture, Lays Blame With Bad Employees – WSJ

This really is an outrage. CEOs assure us that the reason they are worth hundreds of millions of dollars is the rare qualities of leadership, vision, and strategy they bring to the company and its employees and shareholders. And yet, when there is a massive widespread fraud leading to the firing of 5000 workers, somehow it is the fault of the employees? As public and congressional pressure mounted on Wells Fargo & Co. executives, its top two bankers had an explanation Tuesday for allegedly illegal sales practices across the company: It was employees’ fault. Chief Executive John Stumpf defended the firm and the efforts it had taken to stop the behavior, which included opening accounts for customers without permission. “There was no incentive to do bad things,” Mr. Stumpf said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. He called the conduct that led to last week’s settlement with federal and local authorities “not acceptable,” adding that the bank doesn’t “want one dime of income that’s not earned properly.