Wells Fargo recently announced it would create a new business organizational structure, which would create five business lines whose CEOs would directly report to Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf.
The announcement coincided with the news that the bank hired Mike Weinbach as the CEO of Consumer Lending in early May. Weinbach, who had been the head of mortgage at JPMorgan Chase before leaving last month, will have responsibility for home lending, auto, credit cards and merchant services, and personal loans.
In a release, Wells said the changes were designed to create a flatter line of business organizational structure and provide leaders with clear authority, accountability, and responsibility.
“The Wells Fargo franchise has extraordinary opportunity and power, and these organizational changes enable us to more effectively pursue our goals and take advantage of the opportunities in front of us,” Scharf said in the release. “These changes create the right structure to build our businesses over the long term and increase our ability to successfully execute on our top priority, which is the risk, regulatory, and control work. I am confident that this organizational model and our strengthened risk and control foundation will bring greater focus and accountability to the company.”
Effective immediately, the five line of business CEOs are:
- Mary Mack, who most recently led Consumer Banking, becomes CEO of Consumer and Small Business Banking, responsible for branch banking and small business, which includes the company’s 5,400 branches and delivers a full range of deposit, lending, investment, and payment products. Mack takes on additional responsibilities for deposits and a newly established digital team focused on acquiring and servicing new customers through digital channels.
- Perry Pelos, who most recently led Wholesale Banking, transitions to a new role as CEO of Commercial Banking, with both relationship and product responsibilities in serving businesses with annual sales generally in excess of $5 million. In this new role, Pelos is responsible for commercial capital, Treasury management, business banking, middle market banking, and government and institutional banking.
- Jon Weiss, who most recently led Wealth & Investment Management, transitions to a new role as CEO of Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB), which previously was part of Wholesale Banking. The creation of a separate business line for CIB, which focuses on supporting the capital markets, banking, and investment needs of Wells Fargo’s corporate, government, and institutional clients, recognizes the successful franchise the company has today and opportunities to serve the needs of clients more broadly. Commercial real estate will become a part of CIB. Weiss also oversees Wells Fargo’s international client businesses and their operations.
- The company will conduct a search for a new CEO of Wealth & Investment Management, and Weiss continues to serve in that role on an interim basis until that leader is named.
- Weinbach, who most recently served as the CEO of Chase Home Lending at JPMorgan Chase, will join Wells Fargo in early May as CEO of Consumer Lending. Mack is leading Consumer Lending on an interim basis until Weinbach joins the company.
Wells Fargo said it also is making fundamental changes to the way the company manages operations. Each of the company’s business lines has core operations functions led by operations leaders who report to Chief Operating Officer Scott Powell, with joint reporting relationships to business line CEOs.
Powell, who reports to Scharf, also is creating a sales practices oversight and management role that will establish an integrated and consistent approach to sales practice monitoring, analytics, and reporting across the company. Filling this role is Michael Cleary, who joined the company on Feb. 4 from Santander US, where he was co-president of Santander Bank and head of its Consumer and Business Banking division.
Separately, the company is creating a new Strategy, Digital Platform & Innovation group, reporting to Scharf and responsible for corporate strategy and its digital and innovation teams. Powell is leading this group on an interim basis while the company conducts a search for the leader.
Weinbach spent 16 years at Chase, where he was most recently CEO of Chase Home Lending. Previously he held leadership roles across consumer banking, business banking, home lending and auto finance in sales, finance, branch management and operations.
“I’m delighted that we’ve been able to attract someone with Mike’s experience, skills and knowledge to Wells Fargo,” Scharf said. “He has a broad range of experiences in the consumer space and will be a great addition to our management team. We are one of the largest providers of consumer credit in the country and want to continue serving that important role for our customers and the U.S. economy.”
Reporting to Weinbach will be Michael DeVito, head of home lending; Laura Schupbach, head of auto; Ray Fischer, head of credit cards and merchant services; and John Rasmussen, head of personal loans.
“I am excited to join Wells Fargo and appreciate the opportunity to work with this remarkable franchise that serves over 70 million customers,” Weinbach said. “I am passionate about providing outstanding customer experiences and helping customers live better lives. I am eager to work with the Wells Fargo team to do just that.”