Wells Fargo to reduce headcount by as much as 10%

Wells Fargo CEO Timothy J. Sloan is interviewed on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.Richard Drew/AP Images

Wells Fargo said on Thursday it would cut its staff by about 5% to 10% within the next three years.

The third biggest US bank has 265,000 employees, meaning the cuts would encompass as much as 26,500 people.

Wells have been hit with a range of problems over the last several years, beginning with the fake-accounts scandal in 2016, when the firm said employees had opened millions of customer accounts without their consent in order to meet sales targets. The revelation forced the resignation of CEO John Stumpf. His replacement, Tim Sloan, has been battling to overcome the scandal and a series of subsequent issues.

On Wednesday, the bank denied a report that its board of directors had been reaching out to CEO candidates to replace Sloan.