CONTESTED SHAREHOLDER MEETING TAKES PLACE EXACTLY ONE DAY BEFORE DISASTOROUS
‘WALL STREET’ GIVEAWAY BILL IS INTRODUCED BY REP. HENSARLING

San Francisco, CA—April 25, 2017– The California Reinvestment Coalition is proud to stand with the Interfaith
Center on Corporate Responsibility in sponsoring shareholder resolution #5 at today’s Wells Fargo shareholder
meeting.
“The Wells Fargo stagecoach is in a ditch and the leadership at the bank has shown itself unwilling to invest the
time, resources, and energy to correctly address this problem. That’s why our resolution is calling for an
independent, external review and report on how the fake account scandal happened and how the risk
management, culture, and incentives programs at the bank need to change to avoid a repeat,” explains Paulina
Gonzalez, executive director of the California Reinvestment Coalition.
Gonzalez continues: “The fake account scandal was egregious, but it wasn’t an isolated incident at a bank that
had already racked up hundreds of millions of dollars in costs related to its treatment of homeowners, student
loan borrowers, and members of the armed forces.
We would be remiss if we didn’t point out the irony in the timing of this shareholder meeting today and
legislation that will be introduced tomorrow by Representative Jeb Hensarling, that would not only make it

easier for companies like Wells Fargo or Ocwen to engage in these types of bad acts against their customers, but
would also allow them to do it with impunity from their regulators.
Chair Hensarling’s “Free Choice Act,” would weaken the CFPB to the point that it would be a toothless
regulator, unable to identify problems like this fake account scandal- or to take steps to stop these practices
against consumers. While Wall Street and scam artists are no doubt salivating at the prospect of a return to not
having a cop on the consumer beat, consumers should be terrified. If Rep. Hensarling’s bill moves forward, there
will be monumentally negative impacts on every American who interacts with the financial services industry in
our country.”