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Corporate Event

Wells Fargo Fake Accounts Scandal

Corporate Fraud and Financial Scandals

Regulators revealed in September 2016 that Wells Fargo employees, under pressure to meet aggressive sales quotas, had opened millions of unauthorized bank and credit card accounts in customers' names without their consent over several years. The bank paid a then-record 185 million dollar initial fine, later followed by billions more in additional settlements and a Federal Reserve-imposed asset cap, and CEO John Stumpf resigned amid Congressional hearings and public outrage over the scheme. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Event Type
Financial fraud scandal 1
Event Year
2016 1
Connections

Associated With

Finance, Practice Disciplines

The 2016 revelation that Wells Fargo employees opened millions of unauthorized accounts to meet sales targets exposed failures in financial-services internal controls and incentive design.

Source Wikipedia, Wells Fargo Cross-Selling Scandal
Financial Services Industry, Industries
Wells Fargo & Company, Companies and Brands

Wells Fargo & Company is the bank whose branch employees opened millions of unauthorized accounts, revealed in this 2016 scandal.

Source Wikipedia, Wells Fargo Cross-Selling Scandal

Companies Involved

Wells Fargo & Company, Companies and Brands
Source Wikipedia, Wells Fargo Cross-Selling Scandal
Sources
1. Wikipedia, Wells Fargo Cross-Selling Scandal
Wikipedia
  • Lead section, opening paragraph
    The Wells Fargo cross-selling scandal was caused by the creation of millions of fraudulent savings and checking accounts on behalf of Wells Fargo clients without their consent or knowledge due to aggressive internal sales goals at Wells Fargo.
  • Associated With: Wells Fargo & Company
  • Associated With: Finance
  • Companies Involved: Wells Fargo & Company
View the Source
Frequently Asked Questions

How much was Wells Fargo fined over the fake accounts scandal?

Regulators, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, fined Wells Fargo a combined 185 million dollars when the fraud became widely known in late 2016, and the company faced additional civil and criminal costs reaching an estimated 2.7 billion dollars by the end of 2018.
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