Wells Fargo & Co. CEO Tim Sloan gave in to critics and abruptly stepped down Thursday, after the 31-year company veteran struggled to tame a range of scandals, launching the fourth-largest U.S. bank and major auto lender into a hasty search for a successor. Sloan, 58, will be replaced on an interim basis by the firm’s general counsel, C. Allen Parker. The board said it plans to look externally for a permanent replacement. Ever since Sloan took the helm in 2016, he’s faced calls for his ouster from critics including Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat running for president. They said a longtime insider couldn’t be counted on to clean up scandals emerging from the lender’s vast branch network and other divisions. Just last week, the board reiterated its support for Sloan. And hours before Thursday’s news, top shareholder Warren Buffett said he backed him “100 percent.” “They clearly have to regain their credibility,” said John … [Read more...] about Wells Fargo CEO, under fire, steps down
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Wells Fargo hit with $1 billion fine for charging customers for auto insurance they didn’t need
Wells Fargo, struggling with a host of consumer banking issues since 2016, has once again found itself in the penalty box – this time to the tune of a $1 billion fine from federal regulators. It’s one of most aggressive actions taken against a bank during the Trump Administration and comes as a result of recent auto insurance and mortgage abuses. While severe, the penalty likely doesn’t do too much permanent damage; Wells Fargo has $1 trillion in assets, and recently reported first quarter profits of almost $6 billion. Doubling up on auto insurance At issue is the revelation from last summer that 570,000 clients were charged for car insurance even though they already had coverage – and did not need more from Wells Fargo. In addition, many customers were not notified of the additional fees, per disclosure requirements. Of those affected, 20,000 people were driven to loan default and subsequent vehicle repossession. Here’s more from the bank’s … [Read more...] about Wells Fargo hit with $1 billion fine for charging customers for auto insurance they didn’t need
Wells Fargo officially agrees to $1B penalty: What’s in the settlement
Wells Fargo & Co will pay $1 billion to settle with U.S. regulators who say the bank wrongly layered insurance on hundreds of thousands of drivers and routinely hit homebuyers with excessive fees, officials said on Friday. The penalty was a record from the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and comes more than eighteen months after Wells Fargo admitted it opened sham accounts for customers - a practice that likely ensnared millions. Wells Fargo said the settlement lowers its first-quarter 2018 net income by 16 cents per share to 96 cents per share. It had flagged a possible settlement when it reported earnings last week and said then it may need to restate results. The penalty is the first by Mick Mulvaney, whom U.S. President Donald Trump tapped in November as interim head of the CFPB, and fulfills Trump's vow to come down hard on the country's third-largest lender. Mulvaney has worked to dial back the reach of the independent agency, and Reuters has reported the … [Read more...] about Wells Fargo officially agrees to $1B penalty: What’s in the settlement
Wells Fargo Fined $1 Billion For Auto Insurance Scandal, Mortgage Misdeeds
Wells Fargo is getting slammed with all kinds of penalties over shady business practices. Currently prohibited from growing its business as investigators look into its practices, the bank is restructured itself after it was implicated in widespread auto insurance and mortgage lending abuse in the summer of 2017. It’s also still coping with an earlier scandal involving local branches opening fake accounts for customers. Last week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency suggested Well Fargo pay $1 billion to “resolve” the governmental probes into those issues. That changed today when the bureau filed a consent order announcing it was time for the bank to pay up. The fine applies to the mortgage lending issues, as well as Wells Fargo’s past practice of charging thousands of auto loan customers for insurance they didn’t need and often didn’t even know about. The move caused some borrowers … [Read more...] about Wells Fargo Fined $1 Billion For Auto Insurance Scandal, Mortgage Misdeeds
Wells Fargo Faces $1 Billion Government Fine Over Auto Insurance Scandal: Report
Wells Fargo, the bank accused of unfairly charging high auto collateral protection insurance to hundreds of thousands of customers, may face a fine of $1 billion from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, according to the New York Times. Last year, Wells Fargo was snared in a number of scandals involving improperly charging mortgage insurance customers and allegedly charging customers for unnecessary automotive insurance coverage. Both scandals factor into the government’s fine, according to the Times. Here’s more from the New York Times: Federal regulators are poised to impose a $1 billion penalty on Wells Fargo for a variety of alleged misdeeds, including forcing customers to buy auto insurance policies that they didn’t need, according to people briefed on the regulatory action. The expected penalty, levied by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, is … [Read more...] about Wells Fargo Faces $1 Billion Government Fine Over Auto Insurance Scandal: Report