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Cmte Financial Services (R)
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McHenry: There are Serious Things Happening in the World While We’re Having This Hearing
Top Republican Calls on Committee to Focus on Mitigating Potential Coronavirus Impact
Washington, Mar 10 -
Today, the House Financial Services Committee held a hearing with Wells Fargo CEO Charles Scharf. Last week, Committee Republicans issued the third Republican staff report on Wells Fargo’s sales practices scandal, which proves the Bank was not too big to manage—but was grossly mismanaged. This is the first in a series of three hearings scheduled by Committee Democrats on Wells Fargo this month. In light of the recent impact of Coronavirus concerns on markets, Ranking Member Patrick McHenry (NC-10) called on the Committee to continue to hold Wells Fargo accountable, while using Committee hearings to better inform the public on efforts to mitigate the potential risk posed by Coronavirus. Watch Republican Leader of the House Financial Services Committee, Patrick McHenry’s (NC-10), opening remarks here. Ranking Member McHenry’s opening remarks as delivered: “Well thank you, Madam Chair. “My colleagues on the other side of the aisle made up their minds about Wells Fargo long ago. “In fact, before we received a single document, the now-Chair of the Committee in 2016 said that she had, ‘come to the conclusion that Wells Fargo should be broken up; it’s too big to manage.’ “Again, that was before the Committee received a single document or reviewed even a shred of evidence into the investigation of Wells Fargo’s sales practices. “Now, after reviewing half a million documents that both the Democrats and Republicans on this committee have access to, and hundreds of pages of witness testimony, we know breaking up the bank is not the answer. “Wells Fargo isn’t too big to manage—the findings of these documents show that it was grossly mismanaged. The evidence shows the source of the company’s problem was its federated structure, and the leadership team that couldn’t fix it. “Those are the issues that are unique to Wells Fargo. And Wells Fargo was uniquely mismanaged. However, the evidence does not tell us much about Wells Fargo’s large bank peers. “So, we’re going to spend all day hearing from Wells Fargo’s brand-new CEO, who has been on the job for all of about six months, who has no connection to the period in question. “And tomorrow, we’re going to drag up two former Board members for the sole purpose of embarrassing them. And there are documents that are deeply embarrassing to those board members, and to the then board of Wells Fargo. That is true. “The Chairwoman called on them to resign and they did. In fact, the markets were calling on them to resign – the system works. I’m not sure what we hope to accomplish tomorrow with witnesses who are no longer in a position to fix the company moving forward. “I would offer we don’t have the luxury of three politically motivated, ideological hearings on Wells Fargo right now. “There are serious things happening in the world while we’re having this hearing. “Investor fears over the spread of Coronavirus have widespread consequences for the financial services industry, the economy, and the markets. “Our constituents have real concerns and they expect us to put aside politics and focus on the urgent matter at hand. “But we’re going to spend the day asking Mr. Scharf over and over again, how he intends to fix the bank? “Here are the facts. Mr. Scharf and his team released a plan and it looks good on paper. We’ll hold him accountable for executing that plan. In fact, his stockholders will hold him accountable for that plan. And the regulators and the Justice Department will hold him accountable for executing that plan. “In fact, the regulators and the Justice Department have been extremely aggressive during the Trump Administration on Wells Fargo. We’ll continue to hear from them about whether or not Mr. Scharf’s plans are working, and we expect them to stay engaged. “I look forward to hearing from you today Mr. Scharf, but I think at least some of our Members will want to know what you are doing to prepare for your massive footprint of employees, how you’re going to protect their safety. How you’re going to protect the safety and soundness of your institution given what’s happening in the marketplace, and the fears we have in reaction to this virus. And the impact that my constituents will have with changes to credit card, mortgages, and other things in light of this crisis.” Learn more about today’s hearing here.