(Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co’s CEO Tim Sloan is expected appear before the House Financial Services Committee alone in March this year, and then in April with several other banking heads, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Wells Fargo will be the first bank to face a grilling by House Democrats who took over the committee in the new Congress. The discussion will likely revolve around the widespread consumer abuses that took place at the bank, the report said.
JPMorgan, Citigroup, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley chiefs will meet with the committee in April, although formal invitations have yet to be sent to the banks, WSJ said.
Wells Fargo declined to comment and the other banks did not immediately respond to a Reuters’ request for comment.
The House Financial Services Committee, run by long time Wall Street critic U.S. Representative Maxine Waters, has stressed industry accountability ever since Democrats took over the powerful government body that oversees the U.S. housing market, insurance and international finance sectors, among other areas.
Waters has already called for Wells Fargo to be broken up or shut down, and has described JPMorgan and Citigroup as recidivist banks.
U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, part of a new crop of Democrats that swept into office this year on a stronger liberal platform, and who was appointed to the Financial Services Committee earlier this year, has also campaigned on issues that put her at odds with the financial industry, including separating commercial and investment banking, breaking up large banks, and forgiving student debt.
