Articles Tagged with Wells Fargo

Industry watchdogs turn their focus on Wells’ wealth-management services

It seems that we may not have yet seen the end of the Wells Fargo accounts scandal. The Justice Department has taken an increased interest in Wells Fargo’s wealth-management unit following whistle-blower claims that the bank’s wealth-management customers have been affected.

According to a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article, the Justice Department ordered Wells Fargo to conduct an investigation into the bank’s own wealth-management business, in response to claims of unfair practices. The investigation into any potential wrong-doing is the first focused on services offered by Wells Fargo outside banking, namely its financial and investment advisory business.

Banking giant, Wells Fargo, recently rolled out a new robo-advising platform aimed at enticing first-time investors to invest through Wells Fargo-packaged investment offerings. The unveiling of the automated advisory platform marks the latest in a concerted effort by large-scale financial institutions to capitalize on tech-savvy consumers and meet the changing demands of a digital marketplace.

Robo-advising has grown as an increasingly popular platform for investors who seek more autonomy in their investment decisions as well as expedited trading.

What is Robo-advising?

Last time we wrote about the Wells Fargo fake accounts scandal, the current figure of roughly 2 million customers affected had just been increased to nearly 3.5 million. What we saw was the uncovering of a scandal that was far more deep-seated than previously thought. Through the creation of unauthorized accounts for various consumer services, Wells Fargo had earned millions in fraudulent funds.

Apparently, its even worse than that.

A recent report shows that there appears to be an additional 1.4 million fake accounts, about 190,000 of which accrued fees. The additional accounts were uncovered by a third-party investigator hired by Wells Fargo to uncover the extent of the issue internally.

We all remember that nastiness about Wells Fargo, right? You know, that little PR debacle where it turned out that, due to unrealistic sales initiatives, Wells Fargo employees initiated accounts fraud against millions of consumers.

After the story broke, Wells Fargo lost a major vote of consumer confidence. The following weeks saw many customers closing accounts and executives getting raked over the coals, culminating in the resignation of the CEO and a large scale termination of employees who had participated in accounts fraud.

Finally, it seemed the dust had settled. The banking giant was ordered to pay out $190 million in federal fines and reparations to affected consumers. The bank also promised a change to corporate culture and initiatives, announcing an end to aggressive sales goals.

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