2. In September, federal regulators reported that Wells Fargo employees secretly created millions of unauthorised bank and credit card accounts without their customers knowing it since 2011.
OPERATIONAL DETAILS
1. The phony accounts earned the bank unwarranted fees and allowed Wells Fargo employees to boost their sales figures.
2. Employees went so far as to create phony PIN numbers and fake email addresses to enroll customers in online banking services.
3. An analysis conducted by a consulting firm hired by Wells Fargo concluded that bank employees opened over 1.5 million deposit accounts that may not have been authorized.
4. Employees moved funds from customers' existing accounts into newly-created ones without their knowledge or consent causing customers to gett charged for insufficient funds or overdraft fees due to insufficient funds in their original accounts.
5. Wells Fargo employees also submitted applications for 565,443 credit card accounts without their customers' knowledge or consent.
6. Regulators estimated roughly 14,000 of those accounts incurred over $400,000 in fees, including annual fees, interest charges and overdraft-protection fees.
RECTIFICATION
1. The bank agreed to pay $185 million in fines, along with $5 million to refund customers.
2. Wells Fargo has fired 5,300 employees over the last few years related to the shady behavior.
3. The bank listed 265,000 employees as of the end of 2015.
4. Federal regulator has tightened restrictions on Wells Fargo, requiring it to get approval to replace or hire new executives and make other changes
5. The regulatory order further prohibits the bank from making so-called golden parachute payments — compensation paid to executives when they step down or are fired.
6. The bank will also no longer be entitled to expedited regulatory reviews of applications for basic practices, including opening or relocating bank branches.
VIEWS
1. The number of staffs fired indicated the practice was "widespread."
2. News have emerged concerning other allegations that Wells Fargo signed up people for insurance packages without their permission.
3. Investigation should look into possible criminal identity theft related to unauthorised accounts.
4. Could Wells Fargo be prosecuted under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act as they seem to satisfy all the elements.
5. There are elements of fraud committed covered under the RICO act and employees, whistleblowers, were intimidated or fired.
