Wells Fargo CEO resigns position on Fed advisory body

WASHINGTON -- Wells Fargo’s embattled CEO is resigning his position on the Federal Reserve’s advisory council amid a scandal over millions of accounts allegedly opened by the bank without customers’ permission.

The San Francisco Fed said Thursday that John Stumpf is giving up his position as representative from the central bank’s San Francisco region on the advisory council.

Wells Fargo spokeswoman Jennifer Dunn said the move was a personal decision by Stumpf, saying that his top priority is leading the San Francisco-based bank.

The announcement came two days after Stumpf faced bipartisan outrage from a Senate panel over the alleged misconduct, believed to have gone on at the second-largest U.S. bank for years. Some 5,300 employees were fired.

Wells Fargo was fined $185 million by U.S. and California regulators earlier this month.