Other stuff

Not a lot of news in the last few days about the Wells Fargo new account fiasco, but there are a few pieces of information.

12/12 – Reuters – Prudential stops distribution of policies sold through Wells Fargo – With the increased attention on the low-cost life insurance product from Prudential, called MyTerm, which was sold by Wells Fargo, the insurance company suspended sales of the product through the bank.

Article says that separately Wells Fargo suspended sales of renters insurance that goes through a different insurance company.

The California Insurance Commission has opened an investigation of the product sales.

Article says the California regulators says the New Jersey insurance regulator has also opened an investigation. Reporter cannot get confirmation from the New Jersey regulator.

12/16 – Francine McKenna at MarketWatch – Prudential allegations complicate Wells Fargo’s work with new partners – …

Minor updates on Wells Fargo fiascoRead More »

More punishment on the way from the OCC.

Also, accusations emerged over the weekend that staff of Wells Fargo may have been opening insurance products from Prudential without customer permission. Keep in mind those are only accusations by terminated staff. If substantiated, this could be a new layer of the fake account scandal.

I previously mentioned OCC imposing additional consequences from the fake account scandal. Background for the next article:

• 11/18 – Wall Street Journal – Banking Regulator Imposes New Restrictions on Wells Fargo – Apparently the consent degree signed by Wells had some harsh language in it which was immediately waived by the OCC. On Friday the OCC unilateally revoked their waiver. As of now, Wells Fargo must get OCC permission before it hires or fires senior executives, before it make changes to the board of directors, and before making any “golden parachute” severance payments to executives. Approval will be required to changes in the bank’s business plans.

Update on that action:  11/20 – Wall Street Journal – Wells Fargo Grapples With OCC Move – Internal communication from the new CEO indicates the restrictions from OCC are not due to new developments. Sources for the article indicate uncertainty for the reason. Could be a bureaucratic reaction to criticism the OCC was slow to catch on to the issue or that the agency went too lightly on the bank.

Additional punishment…

12/9 – Wall Street Journal – Wells Fargo Likely Face Regulator Downgrade, harming Its Prospects – OCC may be downgrading Wells’ rating under the Community Reinvestment Act. This would be another round of extra-judicial punishment for the fake account fiasco.

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More regulatory punishment for Wells Fargo. Another possible dimension of the fake account fiasco.Read More »

Odd development yesterday in the fake account fiasco at Wells Fargo. The OCC decided to get involved in lots of internal decisions at the bank.

The side fiasco of banks hiring relatives of clients in order to gain future business is off point from the banking fiascos I’ve been focused on. However, one settlement has caught my eye. Two articles describe the mess at J.P. Morgan.

11/18 – Wall Street Journal – Banking Regulator Imposes New Restrictions on Wells Fargo – Apparently the consent degree signed by Wells had some harsh language in it which was immediately waived by the OCC. On Friday the OCC unilaterally revoked their waiver.

As of now, Wells Fargo must get OCC permission before it hires or fires senior executives, before it make changes to the board of directors, and before making any “golden parachute” severance payments to executives. Advanced approval will be required to any changes in the bank’s business plans.

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A few more updates on the ongoing banking fiascos: Wells Fargo and J.P. MorganRead More »

A few more articles on the fake account mess at the bank:

• Wells Fargo is trying to get back on track.
• Other banks are getting inquiries from the OCC about incentives to open accounts.
• SEC is looking at possibility of missing disclosures.

On October 24 the bank ran a full-page color ad in the Wall Street Journal on the back of the A section. Article ran again a few days later. I’ll guess that is a rather expensive page anyway, especially for the whole page, even more so for a very pretty color photo. Nice shot of a Concord stage on the open prairies, by the way. Cool photo!

Several comments from the ad, which I will quote under fair use, which in any event I’m sure Wells Fargo is perfectly fine with me quoting.

Putting your interest first: We have eliminated product sales goals for our Retail Banking team members who serve customers in our bank branches and call centers. This means that their focus will be a meeting your financial needs, not meeting sales goals.

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More news on the Wells Fargo fake account fiascoRead More »

Lots of news to catch up on the Wells Fargo unauthorized account mess from when I was on vacation last week.

A few articles for your consideration:

• What, if anything, should have been disclosed about the investigation while it was underway?
• Disclosures likely in the next round of filings with SEC.
• Hints the fake account fiasco could extend into the small business division.
• Bank’s CEO resigns.
• The Congress and CFPB were late to the party.
• California AG opens investigation of possible identity theft.

9/29 – Michael Rapoport at Wall Street Journal – To Disclose or Not to Disclose? Wells Fargo Woes Shine Light on a Knotty Problem – Wells Fargo did not disclose the existence of the investigation and settlement talks regarding the fake account scandal.

Interesting question for companies and auditors arises: should it have been disclosed?

Article provides a good non-technical explanation of materiality:

Generally speaking, materiality depends on whether a reasonable investor would consider the information important enough to affect the investor’s decision to buy a company’s securities.

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More news on the Wells Fargo fake account fiascoRead More »