Faces of the financial crisis: Where are they now? (Banker edition)

When the crisis hit, Richard “Dick” Kovacevich had recently retired as Wells Fargo’s chief executive. But as chairman of the board, he often still served as the public face of the San Francisco bank.

Wells drew praise for dodging many of the mortgage market pitfalls that befell other big banks, and its purchase of Wachovia catapulted the San Francisco company into the industry’s top tier.

Kovacevich soon emerged as a vocal critic of the federal government’s response to the crisis. Wells received $25 billion under the Troubled Asset Relief Program — funds that were repaid in late 2009 — even though Kovacevich insisted that his bank didn’t need the money.

“Shortly after TARP, the stock market fell by 40%,” the outspoken former CEO said in a 2013 interview. “And the banking industry stocks fell by 80%. How can anyone say that TARP increased the confidence level of an industry, when its stock market valuation fell by 80%?”

Seven years after Kovacevich retired as Wells’ chairman, the bank’s phony- accounts scandal came into public view. That black eye and subsequent revelations of misconduct at the bank have led to re-evaluations of Kovacevich’s legacy, because he was seen as more responsible than anyone else for building the bank’s aggressive sales culture.

Since his retirement from Wells Fargo, Kovacevich has served on the boards of Cargill, Target, Cisco Systems and Theranos, the embattled health care startup whose founder now faces fraud charges.

Kovacevich also makes frequent appearances on CNBC, where he provides commentary on the economy, banking regulation and other topics.

“Here is my promise to you. Like the Hippocratic oath, we will do nothing to screw up that model. We will only add to it."

Ken Thompson uttered those infamous words in May 2006 while defending Wachovia’s decision to buy Golden West Financial, a San Francisco lender that focused heavily on option adjustable-rate mortgages. Thompson, who had previously shown restraint as an acquirer, agreed to pay $26 billion for Golden West in a deal that was hurriedly assembled while he juggled responsibilities of hosting a professional golf tournament that Wachovia was sponsoring.

The deal was the beginning of the end for Wachovia. Losses piled up as homeowners turned in their keys instead of making payments on underwater mortgages. Legal settlements and securities losses spiked. Thompson was ousted in June 2008, shortly after a contentious shareholder meeting. He was replaced by Robert Steel, a former Treasury Department official.

Wachovia was on the verge of failing in September 2008 when the FDIC intervened and arranged for Citigroup to buy Wachovia’s retail bank. Then Wells Fargo, which had a squeaky clean record at the time, swooped in and agreed to buy the entire company for $15 billion.

Less than a year after leaving Wachovia, Thompson joined Aquiline Capital Partners, a New York private equity firm, as a senior adviser and eventually became one of the firm’s principals.

Aquiline had bought a sizable stake in BNC Bancorp in High Point, N.C., after the crisis, the proceeds of which were used to roll up struggling banks, and Thompson joined the company's board in 2011, serving as Aquiline’s representative.

BNC sold itself to the Pinnacle Financial Partners in Nashville, Tenn., early last year. Thompson now serves on the $23 billion-asset company's board.

Vikram Pandit took the helm of Citigroup in late 2007, the same year it bought a hedge fund that he had co-founded. Citi had begun to disclose the extent of its crippling mortgage losses, and his successor, Chuck Prince, had just resigned. Pandit led the bank through the financial crisis and three federal bailouts that totaled $476 billion in cash and guarantees — and for a while made Uncle Sam a 36% shareholder.

At a Congressional Oversight Panel hearing in 2010, he blamed short-sellers — not a lack of capital or funding — for the need for government intervention.

That argument was met with skepticism. "So … Citi had back luck?" asked Elizabeth Warren, then a professor who chaired the panel.

Yet Pandit slowly guided Citi back to profitability and oversaw the repayment of its bailout funds. In 2009 he pledged to take $1 in salary and bonus until Citi made money again, and it did so starting in the first half of 2010; the board would restore his compensation the next year.

Pandit touted his management team’s de-risking efforts and a return to core banking in that 2010 panel hearing.

"We have sold more than 30 businesses and substantially scaled back proprietary trading,” he testified. “Citi is a better bank today, but for Citi, being better is not good enough."

His work at Citi wasn’t good enough for his doubters, either. He was second-guessed by regulators, lawmakers and industry observers. He resigned in 2012 as Citi chief and was replaced by Michael Corbat.

Since then, Pandit has enjoyed a second life as an investor in financial startups. The Orogen Group, an investment firm he leads, said this spring that it was investing $100 million in Fair Square Financial, a credit card issuer that targets consumers with blemished credit. He recently warned about swift technological changes that would reshape financial services and put 30% of bank jobs at risk. "I see a banking world going from large financial institutions to one that's a little bit more decentralized," he said.