Wells Fargo CEO Out, Stock Rises

&l;p&g;The CEO of Wells Fargo is stepping aside as a massive phony account scandal continues to plague the bank.&l;/p&g;&l;figure class=&q;image-embed embed-0&q;&g;&l;div&g;&l;img src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/cda9257976dd46e6a8b8e0477275e91e/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; alt=&q;Financial Markets Wall Street Wells Fargo&q; data-height=&q;3840&q; data-width=&q;5760&q;&g;&l;/div&g;&l;figcaption&g;&l;fbs-accordion&g;&l;p class=&q;color-body light-text&q;&g;The Wells Fargo logo appears above a trading post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)&l;small&g;ASSOCIATED PRESS&l;/small&g;&l;/p&g;&l;/fbs-accordion&g;&l;/figcaption&g;&l;/figure&g;&l;p&g;Tim Sloan informed the bank&s;s board of directors of his decision to retire from the company, effective June 30, 2019, and to step down as CEO, president, and board member effective immediately.&l;/p&g;&l;p&g;Wells Fargo has named Allen Parker, who served as the general counsel, as interim CEO and president (and member of the Board), effective immediately. &l;/p&g;&l;p&g;Wells Fargo has faced its share of negative news over the last few years following a huge credit and bank account scandal. In 2016, the bank paid some $185 million over allegations that it opened more than 3 million unauthorized accounts. The phony accounts helped boost the banks revenue by over $2 million.&l;/p&g;&l;fbs-ad position=&q;inread&q; progressive&g;&l;/fbs-ad&g;&l;p&g;The scandal cost then &l;a href=&q;https://www.forbes.com/sites/maggiemcgrath/2016/09/23/the-9-most-important-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-well-fargo-fiasco/#3ffb5bf03bdc&q; target=&q;_blank&q; class=&q;color-link&q;&g;CEO John Stumpf his job&l;/a&g;, and the bank would end up paying over $2 billion in fines over the next couple of years.&l;/p&g;&l;p&g;Sloan took over in October 2016 but the hits kept coming for Wells. The bank was hit with lawsuits over the phony account scandal and legal costs totaled more than $1 billion shortly after the problems began.&l;/p&g;&l;div class=&q;vestpocket&q; vest-pocket&g;&l;/div&g;&l;p&g;Lawmakers were also critical of Wells Fargo and have regularly called for Sloan&s;s resignation. The Federal Reserve has limited the bank&s;s ability to grow.&l;/p&g;&l;p&g;News of the leadership change is sitting well with investors. Shares of the bank are up nearly 4% in after-hours trading.&l;/p&g;&q;,&q;bodyAsDeltas&q;:&q;