Wells Fargo Fires 5,300 Employees For Opening Unauthorized Accounts

Speaking on the basis of facts, Wells Fargo employees engaged in fraudulent activities for quite some time. One incident happened on a personal note, therefore, this recent news about 5,300 employees being fired isn’t surprising at all.

Wells Fargo & Co. will pay $185 million back to customers because of unauthorized accounts being opened in their names. These deposit and credit-card accounts were opened to help Wells Fargo employees meet sales goals and receive bonuses.

According to Bloomberg,

“The lender opened more than 2 million accounts that consumers may not have known about, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said in a statement Thursday. Wells Fargo, which fired 5,300 employees over the improper sales practices, agreed to pay a record $100 million fine to the CFPB, $35 million to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and $50 million to the Los Angeles city attorney to settle the matter. The San Francisco-based bank also will compensate customers who incurred fees or charges, the agencies said.

“Wells Fargo employees secretly opened unauthorized accounts to hit sales targets and receive bonuses,” CFPB Director Richard Cordray said in his agency’s statement. “Because of the severity of these violations, Wells Fargo is paying the largest penalty the CFPB has ever imposed.”

The bank agreed to resolve the allegations without admitting or denying the agencies’ accusations, and said in a statement that it had set aside $5 million for customer remediation.

“We regret and take responsibility for any instances where customers may have received a product that they did not request,” Wells Fargo said in its statement.

The thousands of employees terminated by Wells Fargo included managers and were dismissed over five years, said Mary Eshet, a bank spokeswoman.

“On an annual basis, more than 100,000 team members worked in our stores,” she said. “While we regret every interaction that was not handled properly, the number of instances and team members involved represent a very small portion of our business.””

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