Executives Turnover at Two Top Banks

Two major U.S. banks announced this week turnover amongst current residents of their “C-level” suites.

Wells Fargo & Company’s (NYSE: WFC) Board of Directors said Wedsnesday it has named John G. Stumpf, currently President and Chief Operating Officer, to be the company’s Chief Executive Officer.  The appointment is effective immediately.  Stumpf, who retains the title of President, succeeds Dick Kovacevich, who will continue as Chairman of the bank for now.  Consistent with the company’s policy for senior executives, Kovacevich has said he will remain with the Company no later than the end of next year, when he will turn 65.

"Our Board has great confidence that John Stumpf will be an outstanding chief executive officer of Wells Fargo because of his quarter century of experience with our company, his broad and deep understanding of our unique culture, his personal commitment to people as a competitive advantage and his passion for our vision, values and business model which we’ve executed successfully for more than 20 years," said Kovacevich.  "We firmly believe there’s no other leader, anywhere in financial services, better equipped to lead Wells Fargo to the next stage of success in satisfying all our customers’ financial needs and in achieving our goal of industry-leading, double-digit growth in revenue and earnings per share."

SunTrust Banks, Inc. (NYSE: STI) also announced movement in their top executive ranks.  The bank announced Tuesday that Robert H. Coords, who is 64, will retire as the Company’s Chief Risk Officer on July 1, 2007 following a 34-year career. Succeeding Coords as Chief Risk Officer is Thomas E. Freeman, who currently serves as the company’s corporate executive vice president and Chief Credit Officer.

In appointing Freeman to the Chief Risk Officer position, SunTrust is consolidating two executive positions with responsibility over credit matters.  As Chief Risk Officer, Freeman will retain responsibility for credit oversight, and will expand his leadership role to include Corporate Risk Operations, Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Operational Risk Control, Sarbanes- Oxley (SOX) Compliance Management, Model Validation and Basel II Capital Management.  Freeman will continue to report to James M. Wells III, SunTrust President and CEO.