Tag: Wells Fargo

Wealth Management A Risk To Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo’s review of its wealth management business threatens to broaden its reputational damage, according to Moody’s.

Last Thursday, Wells Fargo & Company filed its annual 10-K report with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The report disclosed the existence of an ongoing review by Wells Fargo’s board of directors into potentially inappropriate referrals or recommendations at its Wealth and Investment Management (WIM) business, as well as a separate company review of fee calculations within WIM that resulted in overcharges for some customers. The existence of these reviews is credit negative.

Before last week’s disclosures, Wells Fargo’s inappropriate sales practices centered on its large retail banking operations. Since September 2016, when Wells Fargo first announced regulatory settlements related to retail banking sales misconduct, the bank has also disclosed issues in its auto lending business and in its assessment of fees for mortgage rate-lock extensions. These disclosures have resulted in significant reputational damage.

Consequently, we believe Wells Fargo’s reputation would suffer further if inappropriate practices were found in its nationwide WIM business.

Wells Fargo has made rebuilding trust its top priority, and over the past year and a half has taken numerous credit-positive steps to strengthen its governance and risk oversight. However, the widespread nature of Wells Fargo’s wrongdoing also resulted in a broadly publicized consent order with the US Federal Reserve that restricts the bank from growing its balance sheet beyond its year-end 2017 size and calls for more enhancements to its governance and risk management.

These circumstances, and the heightened scrutiny that Wells Fargo faces, magnify each additional revelation of inappropriate practices. Therefore, although the newly disclosed reviews into Wells Fargo’s WIM business are in their preliminary stages, we believe they undermine the bank’s effort to rebuild trust.

Moreover, the board’s review into whether there have been inappropriate referrals or recommendations affecting WIM’s brokerage and other customers was initiated in response to inquiries from US government agencies, raising the possibility of another regulatory sanction at the conclusion of the review. Similarly, Wells Fargo’s filing highlighted a separate internal review of policies, practices and procedures in its foreign-exchange business that is also a response to inquiries from government agencies.

Wells Fargo’s 10-K also included a report from its auditor, KPMG, in which KPMG expressed an unqualified opinion on Wells Fargo’s financial statements and an unqualified opinion on the effectiveness of its internal controls over financial reporting. This is positive because it indicates that Wells Fargo’s auditors do not believe the bank’s aggressive sales practices compromised its financial reporting in any material respect.

Federal Reserve restricts Wells’ growth

Responding to recent and widespread consumer abuses and other compliance breakdowns by Wells Fargo, the Federal Reserve Board on Friday announced that it would restrict the growth of the firm until it sufficiently improves its governance and controls. Concurrently with the Board’s action, Wells Fargo will replace three current board members by April and a fourth board member by the end of the year.

In addition to the growth restriction, the Board’s consent cease and desist order with Wells Fargo requires the firm to improve its governance and risk management processes, including strengthening the effectiveness of oversight by its board of directors. Until the firm makes sufficient improvements, it will be restricted from growing any larger than its total asset size as of the end of 2017. The Board required each current director to sign the cease and desist order.

“We cannot tolerate pervasive and persistent misconduct at any bank and the consumers harmed by Wells Fargo expect that robust and comprehensive reforms will be put in place to make certain that the abuses do not occur again,” Chair Janet L. Yellen said. “The enforcement action we are taking today will ensure that Wells Fargo will not expand until it is able to do so safely and with the protections needed to manage all of its risks and protect its customers.”

In recent years, Wells Fargo pursued a business strategy that prioritized its overall growth without ensuring appropriate management of all key risks. The firm did not have an effective firm-wide risk management framework in place that covered all key risks. This prevented the proper escalation of serious compliance breakdowns to the board of directors.

The Board’s action will restrict Wells Fargo’s growth until its governance and risk management sufficiently improves but will not require the firm to cease current activities, including accepting customer deposits or making consumer loans.

Emphasizing the need for improved director oversight of the firm, the Board has sent letters to each current Wells Fargo board member confirming that the firm’s board of directors, during the period of compliance breakdowns, did not meet supervisory expectations. Letters were also sent to former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Stumpf and past lead independent director Stephen Sanger stating that their performance in those roles, in particular, did not meet the Federal Reserve’s expectations.