Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Friday criticized Wells Fargo as “compromised by greed,” announcing that the state is suspending business with the bank for one year.
The decision comes after Wells Fargo was fined $185 million last month for defrauding customers by opening up about 2 million deposit and credit card accounts without their permission. The bank’s CEO, John Stumpf, retired on Wednesday amid the scandal.
“This company has lost the right to do business with the State of Ohio because its actions have cost it the public’s confidence,” Kasich said in a statement on Friday.
The announcement bars the bank from participating in “future state debt offerings and financial services contracts initiated by state agencies under his authority.” Kasich said he will also aim to stop the bank from participating in debt offerings from the Ohio Public Facilities Commission.
“Policymakers’ first instinct in these situations is often to just write another law, but we’ve seen that that doesn’t always make a difference,” Kasich said. “We need to send a message to this company—and every other company—that the public must be respected, that ethical standards must be respected and when they’re not it comes with a cost.”
