Enforcement actions

Hope Hardison, the chief administrative officer, and David Julian, the chief auditor, were placed on leave Wednesday after they received the letters, which indicated the comptroller's office plans to pursue sanctions againts them, a source says.

Hope Hardison, Wells Fargo's chief administrative officer since 2015, and David Julian, its chief auditor since 2012, have both been removed from the bank's operating committee and begun leaves of absence in the latest fallout from the bank's phony-accounts scandal.

The civil money penalty from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency follows a 2015 consent order against the bank, which became a subject of federal questioning after it suspended its business with check cashers.

The bank failed to tell investors that the success of its cross-selling was built on “sales practice misconduct at the bank,” the state attorney general said.

The groups argue the proposal, which would provide certain legal safe harbors to participating companies, exceeds the CFPB’s statutory authority and would put consumers at greater risk.

Mary Mack, the head of consumer banking at Wells Fargo, said Thursday the San Francisco bank has made significant progress in fixing its culture after a series of scandals over the past two years.

The agency alleges that some customers made payments to the e-commerce group even though their accounts had already been sold to third-party debt buyers.

Senate Democrats on Wednesday called for acting CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney to reveal the vetting process that led to the hiring of a political appointee whose past incendiary writings have caused an uproar at the agency.

The head of the National Treasury Employees Union said the appointment of Eric Blankenstein to a senior role “reflects poorly on CFPB management.”

Eric Blankenstein, a political appointee overseeing fair-lending policy at the agency, said in an email to staff that his blog posts from 14 years ago that used a racial epithet “reflected poor judgment.”