Sudden, but not unexpected.  The embattled chairman and chief executive officer of California's Wells Fargo Bank announced he is leaving the institution, amid outrage over the bank getting caught opening accounts unbeknownst to customers, and then slapping those customers with fees.

The bank announced that 63-year old John Stumpf is retiring.  It will split his responsibilities by elevating two other white male executives; one to chairman, and the other to CEO.  Wells Fargo shares rose two percent after the news.

Stumpf is credited with successfully navigated Wells through the 2008 financial crisis and aftermath and built it into the world's most valuable bank.  But the relentless pressure on employees to generate more and more income from fees gave rise to the fraudulent practice of opening as many as 2 million accounts without customers' knowledge.  This misconduct was carried out by low-level branch staff to meet unrealistic internal sales targets. 

It shattered the bank's folksy image and a raft of federal and state investigations followed.  The US Senate hearing into Wells did Wells and Stumpf no favors; as he hemmed and hawed and tried to play down the significance of the fraud, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren called him a "gutless leader" who "should be criminally investigated". 

The Wells board of directors stripped Stumpf of US$41 Million in stock dividends.  The bank paid a US$185 million regulatory settlement.