Wells Fargo: A CEO Exit and a Public Spectacle

Well, this might be the last time I write about Wells Fargo (fingers crossed). Why? Because John Stumpf resigned. Shocking? Not really. The man is 63, has made tens of millions over the years, and honestly, if I made that kind of money for six months, I’d retire too. This isn’t necessarily about being a bad guy—it’s just that public pressure reached a boiling point.

According to new CEO Tim Sloan, this was Stumpf’s decision for the good of the company. He wasn’t fired or even nudged out, officially. Still, after navigating the bank through the 2008 financial crisis and turning it into the most valuable bank in the world, he was publicly grilled by Congress, humiliated in front of the nation, and gave up $41 million in compensation for a scandal he likely wasn’t directly involved in.

Now he’s the face of the fake account’s fiasco—a symbol of identity theft at scale. People want him criminally prosecuted, which requires a pretty wild stretch of the imagination: the idea of Stumpf himself sneaking into branches to open phony credit cards. Yet, here we are, with Congress calling Wells Fargo a “criminal enterprise.” If that’s the new bar, should we also investigate mall kiosks? Some of those guys are way more aggressive than your average banker.

Sales Goals, Government Oversight, and the Problem with Simplistic Solutions

Despite my repeated attempts to steer clear of this topic, Wells Fargo keeps popping up. Case in point: Los Angeles is considering legislation that would require banks to follow specific sales practices, including a ban on sales goals.

Now, I get it. Sales targets were a big reason this scandal happened. And at Gainplan, we don’t pay commissions or give out flashy incentives. We believe in fiduciary advice—always acting in our clients’ best interests. But banks aren’t typically staffed by fiduciaries. They’re staffed by people who need direction, structure, and yes, incentives to actually do their jobs.

Without sales goals, how do you hold someone accountable for performance? Imagine hiring a realtor who says, “Maybe someone will buy your house, maybe not.” Or a car dealer who just shrugs and tells you to walk the lot yourself. Sales goals aren’t inherently evil—they’re how most businesses, across all industries, operate.

Of course, when poorly implemented, things go wrong—as they did at Wells Fargo. But eliminating goals altogether? That’s a knee-jerk reaction, not a thoughtful solution.

Robots, Investing, and a Dose of Hype

On a slightly different note, let’s talk about robots in investing. They’re everywhere. I’ve written about them plenty, and yet they keep getting stranger.

Recently, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission charged two people for selling a trading “robot” that claimed to have a 90%+ success rate. Spoiler alert: the robot didn’t work. It hadn’t even used real money. In fact, it was never tested in real markets. It’s like saying a robot is successful because it tries to trade—even if it trades poorly 90% of the time.

Also, let’s talk about “real money.” These robots were trading hypothetical dollars, which, let’s be honest, is kind of what all banks do anyway. It’s like that scene in It’s a Wonderful Life—“your money isn’t here.” Maybe the robot lost all its fake money to Wells Fargo overdraft fees. That might actually make sense.

The bigger issue is that people bought this. Would you drive a car that works 90% of the time? Yet we’re okay with robots managing our investments on that same success rate. That’s… optimistic.

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