Tim Sloan’s debut as Wells Fargo’s new CEO left The Street nonplussed.
Bloomberg reported that the new executive “had a rocky Wall Street debut” as the firm reported less information about the sham accounts bedeviling the firm in the headlines and beyond, frustrating analysts.
Sloan said on the conference call discussing earnings that the board was still in the midst of independent investigations and that not much info would be forthcoming. And yet, that was, unsurprisingly, the very info The Street wanted to know. And, added Sloan, there was no decision yet as to whether the findings of that internal review would be made available to the public.
In one exchange, Mike Mayo, an analyst with CLSA, said: “We can’t really ask about the internal investigation. There’s no timeframe. We can’t ask who knew what or when.” He also noted that it was “a little frustrating” that management was unable to ascertain if customers were sticking with the bank in the wake of the scandal.
As noted in the quarterly report, customers opened 30 percent fewer accounts in the month of September versus August.
