LOS ANGELES — John Stumpf has resigned as chairman and chief executive of Wells Fargo & Co., bowing to mounting criticism from lawmakers and others who said he should lose his job over revelations that bank employees created as many as 2 million accounts without customers’ authorization.
The wrongdoing by the San Francisco bank was exposed by a Los Angeles Times investigation and led to an $18-million settlement with regulators last month, sparking the biggest banking scandal since the financial crisis, including renewed calls for a breakup of the nation’s biggest banks.
Stumpf, 63, had been chief executive since 2007 and chairman of Wells Fargo’s board since 2010.