William Daley, who served in the Clinton and Obama administrations, will lead Wells Fargo's public affairs group as it seeks to pivot from a series of regulatory problems
William Daley, who served in the Clinton and Obama administrations, will lead Wells Fargo's public affairs group as it seeks to pivot from a series of regulatory problems POOL / WIN MCNAMEE

Wells Fargo on Thursday named former President Barack Obama's chief of staff to lead the bank's public and government relations as it seeks to repair its reputation and pivot away from years of scandal.

William Daley, who also served as Commerce secretary in the Clinton administration, will lead a team of 780 people globally as Wells Fargo's vice chairman of public affairs.

He will report to newly-named Chief Executive Charles Scharf whose top priorities include persuading the Federal Reserve to lift the cap on its growth imposed after a number of regulatory problems, especially a fake accounts scandal in late 2016.

Scharf replaced former CEOs John Stumpf and Tim Sloan, who endured a series of bruising appearances on Capitol Hill before exiting the big US bank.

"My experience with Bill is that he does not think like a banker," Scharf said in a statement. "He is a strong voice who brings perspectives from the public sector that we in business do not generally have but are critical for us as we make decisions.

The appointment "is an important statement that we want different perspectives on our senior-most management committee and that we will think more broadly about our stakeholders as we move forward," he added.

Despite many roles in politics, Daly has held positions in banking, including senior roles at BNY Mellon, JP Morgan Chase and on the board of government-sponsored mortgage underwriter Fannie Mae.

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