Washington — A leading US bank regulator on Friday reversed course and positioned the agency to claw back pay of former executives at Wells Fargo after a phony-accounts scandal. The lender must also now seek prior approval before naming new bank leadership, said the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the main regulator for federal banks. Friday’s move may target executive pay at Wells Fargo at a time when some legislators complain bank bosses have not paid a fair price for their part in financial scandals. Wells Fargo agreed in September to pay $190m to settle charges that bank employees opened as many as 2-million accounts without the knowledge of customers. The fraud had gone on for at least five years, said the San Francisco-based bank that fired 5,300 employees involved. Congressional hearings followed news of the scandal and John Stumpf, the company’s CEO, resigned. Meanwhile, the September settlement with Wells Fargo remained relatively lax. The OCC exempted Well...
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