Wells Fargo Names COO For Corporate Risk

Wells Fargo & Company announced that it has named Kate Clifford-Toomey as chief operating officer for Corporate Risk.

Clifford-Toomey will start on September 3, reporting to Chief Risk Officer Mandy Norton.

As COO, Clifford-Toomey will be responsible for coordinating risk operations, business architecture and strategy-related efforts across Corporate Risk functions, as well as managing the Risk Framework Office and Corporate Policy Office and working with the Board of Directors on governance requirements and expectations.

“Kate brings strong risk management experience and expertise that will be beneficial as we continue to strengthen our risk management capabilities and rebuild trust with our stakeholders,” Norton said in a press release. “We are pleased to have her join our team and help lead our risk transformation.”

With 20 years of experience, Clifford-Toomey was most recently at Deutsche Bank, where she was chief operating officer of the Americas and head of Americas Regulatory Transformation. Previously, she worked at Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Securities and Pricewaterhouse Coopers.

This week it was reported that the bank could name interim chief executive Allen Parker as its permanent CEO.

Sources said that the Wells Fargo board is considering Parker even though it has said in the past it would look for an executive outside of Wells Fargo to lead the bank. Parker was named acting CEO in March after ex-CEO Tim Sloan resigned, citing pressure from lawmakers and regulators.

While the board wanted to hire a CEO outside of Wells Fargo, the search has been difficult. One reason is because Wells Fargo might not be able to pay a high enough salary to lure leaders from rival banks, while another could be that a CEO would face a lot of scrutiny by U.S. regulators. As a result, board members started getting more comfortable with Parker being named the permanent CEO after winning over investors, regulators, and employees.