Timothy Sloan

Timothy J. Sloan
Born	Timothy James Sloan
Nationality	American
Occupation	Banking executive
Title	Chief Executive Officer (2016–2019)
Employer	Wells Fargo & Company (1987–2019)
Known for	Former CEO of Wells Fargo & Company

Timothy James Sloan is an American banking executive who served as the chief executive officer of Wells Fargo & Company, one of the largest financial institutions in the United States, from October 2016 until his abrupt resignation in March 2019. A career Wells Fargo employee who had spent more than three decades at the bank, Sloan rose through the ranks of the company's finance and wholesale banking divisions before being elevated to the top job in the midst of one of the most significant corporate scandals in modern American banking history. He was appointed CEO following the departure of his predecessor, John Stumpf, who resigned amid the fallout from revelations that Wells Fargo employees had created millions of unauthorized customer accounts. Sloan's tenure was defined by his efforts to restore the bank's reputation and reform its internal practices, but he ultimately faced mounting pressure from regulators, lawmakers, and the public, who questioned whether an insider could effectively lead the institution out of crisis. His departure in 2019 marked a pivotal moment for Wells Fargo and prompted the bank to seek its first outside CEO in its modern history. In the years following his resignation, Sloan pursued legal action against Wells Fargo over compensation he claimed was owed to him, adding a further chapter to the complex relationship between the executive and the institution he had served for most of his professional career.

Career

Rise at Wells Fargo

Timothy Sloan joined Wells Fargo in 1987 and spent the entirety of his banking career at the institution, holding a series of increasingly senior positions across the company's operations. Over the course of approximately three decades, he gained experience in the bank's finance, wholesale banking, and corporate functions, establishing himself as a trusted member of the Wells Fargo leadership team. His long tenure at the company made him one of the most prominent insiders within the organization's executive ranks.

Prior to becoming CEO, Sloan served in roles including chief financial officer and head of wholesale banking, positions that placed him at the center of the bank's strategic and financial decision-making. His deep institutional knowledge and familiarity with the company's operations were cited as factors in his selection as CEO when the position became available in 2016.

Appointment as CEO

Sloan was elected chief executive officer of Wells Fargo & Company and joined the company's Board of Directors in October 2016. His appointment came in the immediate aftermath of the resignation of John Stumpf, who had stepped down as the fake accounts scandal engulfed the bank. The scandal, which had become public in September 2016, involved the revelation that Wells Fargo employees had opened as many as 3.5 million unauthorized bank and credit card accounts in customers' names in order to meet aggressive sales targets. The resulting public outcry, regulatory penalties, and congressional hearings had made Stumpf's position untenable.

The Wells Fargo board turned to Sloan, a longtime insider, to lead the bank through the crisis. The decision to appoint an internal candidate was viewed by some observers as a signal of continuity, while others questioned whether someone who had been a senior executive during the period in which the abuses occurred could credibly lead reform efforts. Sloan pledged to address the bank's cultural and operational failings and to restore trust among customers, regulators, and the public.

Tenure and Ongoing Scandals

Sloan's time as CEO was characterized by persistent challenges as additional instances of customer mistreatment and regulatory failures came to light. While the unauthorized accounts scandal had been the initial catalyst for leadership change, the scope of Wells Fargo's problems proved to be broader than initially understood. During Sloan's tenure, the bank faced scrutiny over issues including improper charges to mortgage borrowers, unnecessary auto insurance policies forced on car loan customers, and other consumer abuses across multiple business lines.

In February 2018, the Federal Reserve took the extraordinary step of imposing an asset cap on Wells Fargo, restricting the bank's growth until it could demonstrate that it had sufficiently improved its governance and risk management practices. The asset cap, which limited Wells Fargo's total assets to approximately $1.95 trillion—the level at the end of 2017—was one of the most significant regulatory penalties ever imposed on a major U.S. bank. The Fed's action underscored the depth of concern among regulators about the bank's internal controls and management oversight.

Sloan appeared before Congress on multiple occasions to testify about the bank's reform efforts and to answer questions about the ongoing revelations of customer harm. In March 2019, he testified before the House Financial Services Committee, where he faced sharp questioning from lawmakers who expressed skepticism about whether sufficient progress had been made under his leadership. Members of the committee challenged Sloan on the pace of reforms and questioned whether the bank's culture had meaningfully changed.

The regulatory environment remained hostile throughout Sloan's tenure. Multiple federal agencies, including the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Federal Reserve, maintained active investigations and enforcement actions against the bank. The cumulative weight of these regulatory pressures, combined with congressional scrutiny, created an increasingly difficult operating environment for Sloan and the Wells Fargo leadership team.

Resignation

On March 28, 2019, Wells Fargo announced that Timothy Sloan would step down as CEO and president effective immediately, and would retire from the company on June 30, 2019. The announcement was described as abrupt by multiple news outlets and came just weeks after his contentious appearance before the House Financial Services Committee.

According to reporting by The New York Times, Sloan's departure reflected the bank's inability to move past the scandals that had defined the preceding years. Despite Sloan's efforts to implement reforms and address the bank's systemic problems, regulators and lawmakers had grown increasingly frustrated with what they perceived as insufficient progress. The Federal Reserve's asset cap remained in place, and there was no clear timeline for its removal—a situation that underscored the ongoing regulatory dissatisfaction with the bank's remediation efforts.

NPR reported that Sloan's resignation came "in the wake of consumer financial scandals" and that the decision reflected the broader conclusion that a leader with deep ties to the bank's past could not effectively shepherd the institution into a new era. The bank's board of directors signaled that it would seek an outside candidate to serve as the next CEO—a significant departure from Wells Fargo's longstanding tradition of promoting leaders from within the organization.

Following Sloan's departure, C. Allen Parker, the bank's general counsel, was named interim CEO while the search for a permanent successor was conducted. Charles Scharf, formerly of Bank of New York Mellon, was ultimately appointed as Wells Fargo's CEO in September 2019, becoming the first outsider to lead the bank in its modern history.

Post-Departure Compensation Dispute

In the years following his resignation, Sloan became involved in a legal dispute with Wells Fargo over compensation he claimed was owed to him. According to The New York Times, Sloan filed a lawsuit asserting that the bank owed him tens of millions of dollars in deferred compensation and other benefits that he had earned during his long career at the institution.

The lawsuit, which sought approximately $34 million in compensation, became a notable legal battle between the former CEO and his former employer. The Charlotte Observer reported in April 2024 that Wells Fargo asked a California state court to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that the bank should not be required to pay the claimed amount. The bank's legal filings laid out its position on why the compensation claims should be rejected.

The New York Times characterized the legal action as an unusual spectacle in which a chief executive who had resigned amid scandal was seeking additional payment from the institution he had led during a period of significant reputational and regulatory damage. The dispute highlighted the complex dynamics of executive compensation in the banking industry, particularly in cases where a CEO's departure is linked to institutional failures.

Wells Fargo Scandals: Context

The scandals that defined Sloan's tenure as CEO were rooted in practices that had developed over many years at Wells Fargo. The bank's aggressive cross-selling culture, which emphasized selling multiple financial products to each customer, had been a hallmark of its business strategy and a source of competitive advantage. However, the pressure placed on frontline employees to meet sales targets led to widespread abuses, including the creation of millions of unauthorized accounts.

The initial revelation in September 2016 that approximately 2 million fake accounts had been opened—a number later revised upward to 3.5 million—triggered a cascade of consequences for the bank. Wells Fargo paid $185 million in initial fines to federal and local regulators, and the scandal led to congressional hearings, the departure of CEO John Stumpf, and the clawback of millions of dollars in executive compensation.

Under Sloan's leadership, additional problems were uncovered across the bank's various business lines. These included the charging of unnecessary auto insurance to car loan customers, the imposition of improper fees on mortgage borrowers, and other instances of consumer harm. Each new revelation compounded the reputational damage and intensified regulatory scrutiny.

The Federal Reserve's 2018 asset cap was a particularly consequential regulatory action. By restricting Wells Fargo's ability to grow its balance sheet, the Fed imposed a financial constraint that directly affected the bank's profitability and strategic flexibility. The asset cap remained in place well beyond Sloan's departure and continued to be a defining feature of the bank's operating environment for years afterward.

The 401(k) dividend misuse class action, which resulted in an $84 million settlement by Wells Fargo in 2025, represented yet another dimension of the bank's legal and regulatory challenges. The settlement resolved a long-running employee benefits dispute that alleged the bank had improperly handled dividends within employee retirement accounts.

Personal Life

Limited publicly documented information is available about Timothy Sloan's personal life. Throughout his career, he maintained a relatively private profile outside of his professional activities at Wells Fargo. He spent the majority of his adult professional life based in the San Francisco Bay Area, where Wells Fargo's corporate headquarters are located.

Note: A different individual named Dr. Timothy W. Sloan serves as the Senior Pastor of The Luke Church in Humble, Texas, and is affiliated with the National Missionary Baptist Convention of America. This individual is not the same person as the former Wells Fargo CEO.

Recognition

Timothy Sloan's career at Wells Fargo placed him among the most prominent banking executives in the United States during his tenure as CEO. His appointment to lead one of the nation's four largest banks—even under the difficult circumstances surrounding his predecessor's departure—reflected his standing within the financial services industry.

However, Sloan's recognition as a public figure was primarily associated with the challenges and controversies of his tenure rather than with business achievements. His appearances before congressional committees, particularly the House Financial Services Committee, became some of the most visible moments of his leadership and were covered extensively by national media outlets including The New York Times and NPR.

Sloan was a member of the Wells Fargo Board of Directors during his time as CEO, and he was associated with the Bank Policy Institute, a research and advocacy organization representing the nation's leading banks.

Legacy

Timothy Sloan's legacy is inextricably linked to the Wells Fargo scandals and the bank's protracted efforts to address them. As the successor to John Stumpf, Sloan inherited what proved to be one of the most significant corporate governance crises in modern American banking. His inability to resolve the crisis during his approximately two-and-a-half-year tenure as CEO raised fundamental questions about whether institutional insiders can effectively lead reform in organizations facing deep-seated cultural and operational problems.

The decision by Wells Fargo's board to seek an outside successor following Sloan's departure represented a significant shift in the bank's leadership philosophy. For decades, Wells Fargo had cultivated its leaders internally, and the hiring of Charles Scharf from outside the organization signaled an acknowledgment that the bank needed a fresh perspective to address its challenges. This transition has been cited in analyses of corporate governance as an example of how entrenched organizational cultures can resist change when led by those who rose within them.

Sloan's post-departure lawsuit against Wells Fargo over $34 million in compensation added a further layer to his legacy, raising questions about executive accountability and compensation in the context of corporate failures. The New York Times noted the unusual nature of a former CEO who had resigned amid scandal seeking additional payment from the institution at the center of that scandal, and the case drew attention to broader debates about how financial institutions handle executive compensation when leadership tenures end under unfavorable circumstances.

The Wells Fargo scandals, which began before Sloan's appointment and continued well after his departure, resulted in billions of dollars in fines, settlements, and regulatory penalties for the bank. The 2025 settlement of $84 million over the 401(k) dividend misuse class action demonstrated that the financial and legal consequences of the era continued to unfold years after the initial revelations.