Analysts have projected that bank employees opened over 1.5 million deposit accounts that may not have been authorized and submitted over 560,000 credit card accounts without customer knowledge.
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“The vast majority of our team members serve our customers’ best interests every day in every interaction”, Richele Messick, a bank spokeswoman, had told The Post.
Davis did, however, say that U.S. Bank is always trying to take customers away from competitors, and allowed that Wells Fargo’s scandal could help U.S. Bank in the long run.
“They warned us about this type of behavior and said, ‘You must report it, ‘ but the reality was that people had to meet their goals”, said Khalid Taha, a former Wells Fargo personal banker who resigned in July.
ICBA President and CEO Camden R. Fine said that the Wells Fargo incident highlighted an “example of the industry inequality that plagues our nation’s banking system”, and that it hurt not only its members but also the public at large.
The House Financial Services Committee on Friday announced an investigation of the allegedly illegal activity by Wells Fargo employees to meet aggressive sales goals as well as the role of federal regulators in the debacle.
The lawmakers named Carrie Tolstedt, who led the unit where the alleged misconduct occurred, pointing out that there seemed to be ample justification for recouping at least some of her compensation.
The senators list multiple triggers for potential clawbacks in Wells Fargo’s policy. Cash and stock she already owns – including about US$51 million of shares amassed during her 27-year career and US$36 million in previously vested stock options – aren’t eligible for claw back, according to the filings. Wells Fargo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“At the same time she was receiving nearly daily harassing phone calls from Wells Fargo looking to collect what they said was an unpaid credit card debt”, Edwards said.
Additionally, the Justice Department is now seeking billion from Deutsche Bank for actions involving the mortgage crisis that stemmed from the Great Recession.
When they complained about the mysterious fees, bank employees told them the account was “auto-generated” and they were denied a request for copies of an account statements because the information was “proprietary”, Edwards said.
The bank is also accused in the suit of misleading customers to force them to open new accounts, sometimes falsely stating that they would face penalties without additional products.
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If a company that has built a reputation of high ethical standards over many years can run this far off the rails, it says something.
