Wells Fargo and federal regulators are “on path to resolution” in finalizing the terms of the San Francisco company’s plan to repay auto borrowers who were overcharged, its chief financial officer said Friday.
Speaking at an investor conference in New York, CFO John Shrewsberry was asked by a shareholder
According to the report, which cited anonymous sources, Wells provided the OCC with its plan in June, as required under
At the conference Friday, Shrewsberry downplayed — but did not deny — the report.
“There was an article last week that cited an interaction at the beginning of the summer that was one of those iterative back and forths with the regulator on solving a complex issue, a very subjective issue,” he said. “I would say that reflected a previous point in time.”
Shrewsberry continued: “My own observation is it seems like there’s a much closer meeting of the minds today that also feels constructive and on path to resolution.”
The restitution plan is required under Wells’ $1 billion settlement with the OCC and CFPB over faulty risk management processes and abuses in the company’s auto and mortgage businesses.
The repayments will go to customers whom Wells improperly charged for auto insurance after they demonstrated that they had already obtained coverage. Wells has estimated that 570,000 customers were affected by the faulty charges, and 20,000 of those customers defaulted on their loan or had their car repossessed as a result.
During the conference Friday, Shrewsberry also discussed the asset cap imposed on the company by the Federal Reserve, reiterating the company’s expectation that the cap
“It’s an iterative process. It’s a maturing process,” Shrewsberry said.
He also said the cap,
Shrewsberry was further asked when, exactly, the negative headlines about Wells will come to an end. The company has been fighting a bruising reputational battle since its September 2016 settlement with regulators over the creation of phony customer accounts.
Shrewsberry said that the company needs to make sure that it “strives for operational excellence,” remains transparent and avoids big mistakes.
In answering the question, he also took a dig at the press, saying that publishing negative headlines about Wells has helped news outlets boost their revenue.
“I don’t know when it’s going to stop being a reliable ad seller or business model for certain outlets or journalists,” Shrewsberry said.