Almost too little too late.
The U.S. government should go after payouts to former Wells Fargo & Co (>> Wells Fargo & Co) executives involved in a scandal over unauthorized accounts now that a federal regulator has said it has the power to do so, lawmakers said on Monday.
The San Francisco-based bank reached a $190 million settlement with federal regulators after admitting employees opened as many as 2 million accounts without customer consent.
That September deal allowed Wells Fargo to make “golden parachute” payments to departing executives. But on Friday, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which oversees many federal banks, voided those terms.
On Monday, two leading Democratic lawmakers urged the OCC to move ahead and revoke compensation to relevant executives.
“Bank executives shouldn’t get golden parachutes while employees making $12 an hour get shown the door,” U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio told Reuters in a statement.
Deadly Clear 