Wells Fargo CEO to stay until he’s 65

Bloomberg

Wells Fargo & Co. CEO Tim Sloan said he’s prepared to keep running the company for much of the next decade, as he shifts from two years of navigating crises to focusing on improving shareholder returns.
“There’s growth opportunities everywhere,” Sloan, 58, said in an interview, commenting just two days after the bank’s chairman batted back Wall Street whispers that the board is looking to replace him. “I’ll stay in this role as long as the board believes that I’m the right person for the role — and they do, and I think I am,” he said. That means he could stay until the firm’s retirement age of 65.
Still, he emphasized, his last day will ultimately depend on whether directors remain satisfied with his work. “It could be as long as tomorrow,” he mused. “So somewhere between tomorrow and seven years.”
Sloan is widely credited by analysts for taking tough steps in his nearly two years atop the firm to overhaul it in response to scandals — installing a new management team, bolstering internal controls and retooling incentives for employees. On Wednesday, Chairman Betsy Duke said he has the board’s unanimous support, and that it’s never wavered, as he’s reshaped the company.
Sloan announced the next phase of Wells Fargo’s transformation, telling staff at a town-hall meeting he plans to reduce the workforce by about 5 percent to 10 percent within three years to focus on costs. The San Francisco-based lender, which had about 265,000 employees at midyear, is struggling to maintain profits as it resolves probes and legal claims.
Sloan’s tenure so far has focussed on organisational changes to halt scandals and win back trust, persuading consumers, regulators and lawmakers that the bank has reformed.