Wells Fargo CFO says accounts scandal won't hit profit much: WSJ

(Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co's (NYSE: WFC) chief financial officer said efforts by states to penalize its business over an unauthorized-accounts scandal would not affect third-quarter earnings "much", the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a recording of an internal call.

John Shrewsberry was recorded as saying the bank would only take "some legal set-asides" but publicizing this "might incentivize people to do more, to make it tougher on Wells Fargo ...," the Journal reported. (http://on.wsj.com/2dYxDOY)

The hour-long call with 500 senior Wells Fargo executives took place on Monday and was intended to lay out the bank's strategy to move past the scandal, the newspaper reported.

Wells Fargo representatives were not immediately available for comment.

The bank has been under pressure to show that it is ready to make amends and hold management accountable after government investigations revealed that some of its employees had opened as many as 2 million accounts without customers' knowledge or permission in order to meet sales targets.

Executives were also recorded as saying that growth in Wells Fargo's new retail banking business would likely decline due to the scandal, the Journal reported.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Nikhil Subba; Editing by Ted Kerr)

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