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The Foreign ArchivesCEO of Wells Fargo will reportedly step down as CEO and chairman of the board of the major U.S. bank, a move that comes in the wake of a major scandal over the creation of fake accounts on behalf of thousands of customers.

John Stumpf, who had served as CEO of Wells Fargo since 2007 and worked for the company for 24 years, has retired, the company announced in a press release. Politicians and financial industry watchdogs had been calling for Stumpf to step aside after the bank was fined $185 million by state and federal regulators.

The Consumer Financial Protections Bureau found that employees at Wells Fargo had opened more than 2 million accounts that had not been authorized by customers. The bank laid off around 5,300 employees who had been found to have had participated in the widespread fraud.

That wasn't enough for many politicians, who called for Stumpf to take responsibility for the bank's misdeeds. Employees were reportedly under pressure to up-sell existing customers with new accounts to meet sales goals.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, a former head of the CFPB, had been among the most vocal politicians calling for Stumpf to step down.

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The board of directors elected Tim Sloan, who had been chief operating officer under Stumpf, as the bank's new CEO.

"While I have been deeply committed and focused on managing the Company through this period, I have decided it is best for the Company that I step aside. I know no better individual to lead this company forward than Tim Sloan," Stumpf said int he press release.

This story is developing.

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