Shares of Wells Fargo plunged over 6 percent after hours following an announcement by the Federal Reserve ordering the bank to halt its growth until it can straighten out “systemic compliance problems” which have led to consumer abuses, “until it sufficiently improves its governance and controls.”
The country’s third-largest lender with $1.95 trillion in assets will also replace three current board members by April, and a fourth by the end of the year, according to the Fed – who did not name the individuals.
“Regulators have rarely intervened directly in a bank’s operations in the past, and it is unprecedented for the Fed to order a bank to stop growing altogether, officials said. The central bank said Wells Fargo’s aggressive business strategy prioritized growth over effective risk management, leading to serious compliance breakdowns,” reports Reuters.
The @federalreserve should remove every @wellsfargo Board member who served during this scandal. I don't know what they're waiting for.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) August 31, 2017
Wells Fargo president and CEO, Timothy Sloan, said “We take this order seriously and are focused on addressing all of the Federal Reserve’s concerns,” adding “It is important to note that the consent order is not related to any new matters, but to prior issues where we have already made significant progress.”
Under the terms of the Fed order, Wells Fargo must maintain an average of $1.95 trillion in assets over any two-quarter period, which Fed officials say will allow the bank to continue its normal operations while halting expansion.
In order to comply with the Fed’s ruling, the bank must submit a plan within 60 days detailing how it plans to address the Fed’s concerns, and independent third parties will conduct a review by September in order to confirm that the bank is executing on its new roadmap.
The growth halt will be in place until this review, which will be led by the San Francisco Fed and top regulatory officials in Washington, has been completed to the Fed’s satisfaction, the Fed said. –Reuters
Wells Fargo agreed to pay $190 million in 2016 to settle charges that it created millions of fake customer accounts. Then in 2017, Wells Fargo uncovered up to 1.4 million more fraudulent accounts – bringing the total up to 3.5 million potentially fake bank and credit card accounts. The bank also discovered approximately 530,000 customers were enrolled in online bill pay without their authorization.
In the wake of the scandal, several top executives left Wells Fargo, including then-CEO John Stumpf.
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Check out the PUT volume on Feb 2, 8, 19 expiration, 65,64 strike.
Someone always know something. Insider trading every day.
lol. This is fucking shady.
Financial fraud is now called “systemic compliance problems” alas orwell’s newspeak.
The lesson is, when you commit fraud, don’t directly involve the consumer like Wells did …and don’t go small. You gotta go big – systemic big. And the fraudulent shit you unload has to have obscure labels with at least one 4-syllable word in its name. And you gotta sell your shit to pension funds and to other institutions.
Do this, and the enforcers protect you and make you richer.
>The lesson is, when you commit fraud, don’t directly involve the consumer
True when a bank rips off Wall Street, or Wall Street robs Wall Street no one really cares.
But when you bring in the consumer/little guy, politicians, regulators (which is why they are there) rev up and go…as they should, WFC getting what they deserve.
“when you bring in the consumer/little guy, politicians, regulators (which is why they are there) rev up and go…as they should”
Sure. But the point is that the little guy gets fucked in spades when his pension gets screwed. And screwed again when his higher taxes, or inflation from printing, or dislocations from rate manipulation, or … are used to help out the big fraudsters. The fact that he doesn’t know that he is being screwed, or that his screwing is deferred, is what keeps the pols happily protecting their criminal benefactors.
This quaint little WFC fraud reminded me of how, in 2009, Senator Warren was making the media rounds as the defender of truth and financial justice by protesting pennies in ATM fees; while at the very same time she was ignoring the $billions the feds were funneling to fund the criminals at Goldman and other primary dealers. And now this new Warren sighting.
I guess the Fed order is still better than an indictment as an ongoing criminal conspiracy.