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.
Timothy J. Sloan, a longtime Wells Fargo executive who was named president of the company last year, will replace Stumpf as chief executive, the bank said.
This week, the bank announced several management changes, including naming a new head of its wholesale banking unit, which Sloan had previously led.
