What's going on?

The CEO of Wells Fargo � now America�s fourth-largest bank � abruptly announced his departure on Friday as a long-running account fraud scandal claimed its second head honcho in three years.

What does this mean?

To lose one chief may be regarded as a misfortune; two looks like carelessness. Wells Fargo � a rare island of stability in 2008 � has been under pressure from US regulators since 2016, when they imposed hefty fines following revelations employees had opened millions of fake customer accounts to hit sales goals.


Wells Fargo�s profit potential will be in the wood chipper until it can convince regulators to lift a ban on growing its business imposed last year. To that end, the bank�s now pointedly looking for a company outsider as its new CEO. Investors aren�t celebrating just yet, however � shares fell 2% on Friday.

Why should I care?

For markets: A new CEO is the new black.

Over in Sweden, the chief executive of Nordic-Baltic giant Swedbank was fired last week after reports of deeper involvement with what may be the largest money-laundering operation in history. Swedbank�s stock lost a quarter of its value last week amid reports that US regulators (renowned for their hefty fines) could investigate. The same money-laundering scandal brought down the CEO of Denmark�s Danske Bank in September. Canning your CEO is no guarantee that things will get better, however: Deutsche Bank (which has itself had to pay hundreds of millions in US fines over money laundering) ousted its chief a year ago as it struggled for profitability � but the stock has since fallen another 35%.

Zooming out: Europe�s final countdown.

A decade on from the last financial crisis, European investment banks are still struggling for profits amid low interest rates and volatility � and tighter regulation also chafes. Investors won�t have to wait too long to see how bad things really are: Switzerland�s Credit Suisse kicks off European banks� first-quarter earnings season on April 24th.