Wells Fargo, Part II: The Data Stuff

data

Today we continue our look at the latest enforcement action against Wells Fargo, this time examining all the operational-level improvements that the bank needs to make in its financial crimes compliance program, per a settlement with banking regulators reached last week. As you might recall, Wells reached a settlement with the Office of the Comptroller…

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Wells Fargo Taken to Task Again

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Banking regulators dinged Wells Fargo yet again last week, this time for the bank’s failure to develop strong anti-money laundering controls and risk management practices. Wells must now implement a litany of improvements from the board on down, so pull up a chair; we have a lot to review here. The enforcement action came last…

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Bank of America Nailed on Bogus Accounts

accounts

Astonishing: Bank of America has agreed to pay more than $150 million to settle civil charges that its employees engaged in various unethical practices with customers in the 2010s, including allegations that Bank of America had its own unauthorized customer account scandal — one that continued for years after Wells Fargo was nailed for the…

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Judge Blasts Ex-Wells Fargo Execs

wells fargo

An administrative law judge has affirmed that three former audit and risk management executives at Wells Fargo should face millions in penalties for their sloppy oversight during the bank’s fake-account scandal in the 2010s. The judge, assigned to the Office of Financial Institution Adjudication, issued his ruling on Wednesday after lengthy proceedings to investigate the…

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Wells Fargo Chief Auditor Passes

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Sad news from Wells Fargo this weekend: Julie Scammahorn, the bank’s chief auditor since 2019 and a long-time senior audit professional in the banking industry, passed away on Thursday.  A spokesman for Wells Fargo confirmed Scammahorn’s death on Friday, saying she died after a brief illness. Other sources have told Radical Compliance that Scammahorn had…

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SEC Charges Wells Fargo Execs

wells fargo

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged two former top executives at Wells Fargo with misleading investors about the bank’s financial performance — the latest chapter in the endless saga of regulators trying to hold Wells Fargo folks accountable for the bank’s disastrously bad behavior.  The SEC charged John Stumpf, who had been CEO of…

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Wells Fargo, You Sneaky Jerks!

wells fargo

We have an update on the billions and billions that Wells Fargo has been spending to rectify its many compliance woes — that, sadly, the bank has adjusted its line-item reporting so we can’t get a good estimate on its spending any more.  You might recall that earlier this summer, CEO Charlie Scharf lamented that…

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Wells Fargo’s Staggering Compliance Costs

wells fargo

Wells Fargo filed its latest quarterly report on Tuesday, and you may have seen news that new CEO Charlie Scharf wants to cut back spending on outside compliance consulting dramatically — spending that he described as “beyond anything I’ve ever seen.”  That spending, of course, stems from the seemingly endless number of compliance failures Wells…

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Wells Fargo, Part III: Mundane Securities Stuff

enforcement

Today we get more pedestrian with Wells Fargo and its unauthorized accounts scandal. Sure, the misconduct was egregious and leadership was a disgrace — but how, precisely, did Wells Fargo violate securities law and get a $500 million wallop from the SEC?  By sketchy use of non-financial metrics.  You almost have to laugh. Wells Fargo…

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Wells Fargo, Part II: Leadership Fails

leadership

Today we continue to examine the misconduct at Wells Fargo by examining the failures of leadership that allowed its unauthorized accounts scandal to happen. After all, poor leadership is the sort of dysfunction that could happen at any company, so what happened here is important to understand. In our first post about Wells Fargo earlier…

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