A Wells Fargo bank sign. Image courtesy of Mike Mozart / CC BY 2.0

Wells Fargo & Company Board Chair Elizabeth A. Duke and member James H. Quigley resigned from the board of directors on Sunday.

Duke and Quiqley said in a joint statement that they believed their resignations would facilitate Wells Fargo and its new CEO Charlie Scharf’s “ability to turn the page and avoid distraction that could impede the bank’s future progress.”

“Since we were made aware of the egregious harms suffered by Wells Fargo’s customers, we were and remain fiercely determined to do right by them and to strengthen the bank’s culture and controls. We have made these our top priorities,” Duke and Quigley said. “In addition, we hired new external leadership with the ability to be an effective change-agent, which we found with our CEO, Charlie Scharf. As the markets face increasing volatility, a strong Wells Fargo is needed now more than ever. Out of continued loyalty to Wells Fargo and ongoing commitment to serve our customers and employees, we recommended to our colleagues on the Board that we step down from our leadership roles and they have accepted our resignation from the Board.

Duke became board chair in January 2018. She was previously vice chair from October 2016 through December 2017.

Duke and Quiqley were scheduled to appear this week before the House Committee on Financial Services. The committee’s Democratic members released a report last week about failures by Wells Fargo’s board and management in response to the account fraud and other scandals at the bank. The report of more than 100 pages criticized Duke and Quigley, including for a lack of urgency in dealing with bank regulators.

Duke became board chair in January 2018. She was previously vice chair from October 2016 through December 2017. Charles H. Noski will become chair of the Wells Fargo board. Noski, who joined the board in June 2019, is a retired vice chairman and former chief financial officer at Bank of America.

“On behalf of Wells Fargo and all of its employees, I would like to thank Betsy and Jim for the contributions they have made over the past several years,” Scharf said in the statement. “They have helped the board navigate significant challenges relating to the sales practices issues, and they began the hard work of instituting necessary changes in leadership, governance, compensation programs and our business model that form the foundation on which we are continuing to rebuild the trust we’ve lost. We wish them the best.”