The head of the fourth-largest US bank Wells Fargo, Tim Sloan, is stepping down effective immediately as the bank struggles to overcome a litany of scandals.

Wells Fargo's troubles started to come to a head in 2016 with revelations that employees had created millions of fake accounts to meet sales quotas, which led to congressional hearings and the ouster of then-CEO John Stumpf.  But after that, the bank acknowledged it charged thousands of borrowers for auto insurance they didn't need, and hundreds of homebuyers mortgage fees they didn't deserve.  And then last year, Wells Fargo was forced to admit that 545 homeowners lost their homes due to an apparent software glitch with the bank's loan modification process.

Sloan, a three decade veteran of Wells Fargo, was widely seen as an odd choice when he was elevated to CEO in 2016.  Many reformers insisted that insiders had to go in order to clean up the bak's faulty corporate culture.

"About damn time," tweeted Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democratic Party presidential candidate and respected financial reformer.  "He enabled Wells Fargo's massive fake accounts scam, got rich off it, and then helped cover it up."  Warren urged the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Justice Department to investigate Sloan for his role in Wells Fargo's problems.  "And if he's guilty of any crimes," she said, "he should be put in jail like anyone else."

Wells Fargo shares jumped 2.6 percent in extended trading Thursday following the company's announcement.