Warren Buffett slams Wells Fargo leadership

Omaha

WARREN Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, criticised Wells Fargo & Co for failing to stop employees from signing up customers for bogus accounts even after learning it was happening, causing a scandal.

Wells Fargo, whose largest shareholder is Berkshire with a 10 per cent stake worth roughly US$27 billion, gave employees too much autonomy to engage in "cross-selling" multiple products to meet sales goals, Mr Buffett said.

This "incentivised the wrong type of behaviour," and former chief executive John Stumpf, who lost his job over the scandal, was too slow to fix the problem, Mr Buffett said.

Wells Fargo was among many topics discussed at Berkshire's annual meeting in Omaha, where Mr Buffett, 86, and vice-chairman Charlie …