Bank of America joined the club of consumer abusers – Wells Fargo had been the well-established leader of this club and the poster-child for abusive consumer practices. For years, Bank of America avoided federal...more
On 17 March 2020, IVASS and the Bank of Italy issued a joint communication regarding the cross-selling of insurance products and financing (the "Communication") to be delivered to the members of the management and supervisory...more
This week I am exploring the Wells Fargo Department of Justice (DOJ) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) settlement of $3 billion. The case presents multiple lessons for the compliance professional and one very large...more
I did not think that the Wells Fargo fraudulent accounts scandal could get worse for the bank. Boy was I wrong. Last week, in a Press Release, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a that Wells Fargo & Company and its...more
The Office of the Comptroller of Currency (OCC) announced a $17.5 million settlement with former Wells Fargo Bank CEO John Stumpf’s role in the sales practices misconduct scandal. In addition, the OCC announced settlements...more
The OCC announced yesterday that it’s bringing enforcement actions against five former Wells Fargo bank executives as part of their alleged roles in the bank’s sales practices scandal. The agency further revealed that it’s...more
The Wells Fargo scandals continue to be one of the starkest lessons about the cost of a corrupt culture and the catastrophic effect it can have on an organization. The former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and head of the...more
Wells Fargo’s ability to grow its business is on hold for a year while it designs and implements a remediation program to address deficiencies in its board governance, risk management and compliance program. ...more
After almost two years, you might think that Wells Fargo, its senior management and Board of Directors would have gotten the message from its regulators to take its compliance obligations seriously, remediate and put ethics...more
Tesla’s hoping that a manufacturing plant in China—the first in the country wholly owned by a foreign manufacturing company—will translate into big sales in the Chinese market. With the Chinese government loath to give up the...more
You may not recognize the full name, John Warren Geils Jr., but you probably do recognize the name J. Geils, as in the J. Geils Band, who died this week. J. Geils was ubiquitous in the 70s and early 80s with, as noted by an...more
Today we honor folk-rocker Donovan and his signature song Sunshine Superman, which was profiled in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) column Anatomy of a Song. The song was a love paean by the singer to “Linda Lawrence, his love...more
While reading the independent directors’ report on the Wells Fargo sales incentives scandal, you will be overwhelmed by the feeling of frustration. At the same time, what is described in the report is the extent to which...more
Wells Fargo’s board not only issued a massive report on its fake account scandal yesterday. It also announced that the bank would claw back an additional $75 million from former CEO John Stumpf and former head of community...more
Today, we celebrate The Eagles most famous song, Hotel California. It all started with a Don Felder cord progression and according to the Financial Times (FT) column The Life of a Song, it had a “fusion of Hispanic melody and...more
In a scathing report, the independent directors at Wells Fargo released their findings and actions based on a comprehensive internal investigation of Wells Fargo’s sales abuses. Based on its findings, Wells Fargo’s...more
The more you learn about Wells Fargo’s culture problems, the more difficult the problems become. But you have to start somewhere, and assuming that Wells Fargo really is committed to addressing the serious problems they face,...more
On Thursday, September 8, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”), in connection with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) and the City of Los Angeles, announced that the government was...more
Activist investor Carl Icahn has taken a sizeable stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb, a move that reportedly caught execs at the drugmaker unawares and sets the stage for a potential sale....more
In late October, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced a sweep examination of broker-dealers targeting cross-selling programs similar to those that recently resulted in Wells Fargo’s payment of an $185...more
Compliance and enforcement headlines have focused on the Wells Fargo scandal. And for good reason. On September 8, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Comptroller of the Currency and the Los Angeles...more
Crimson flames tied through my ears... Rollin’ high and mighty traps... Pounced with fire on flaming roads... Using ideas as my maps... “We’ll meet on edges, soon,” said I... Proud ‘neath heated...more
The Wells Fargo scandal represents a textbook case of compliance and culture failures. Recently, the scandal and Wells Fargo’s defensive crisis management strategy resulted in CEO Stumpf’s resignation. Stumpf’s demise was...more
Like a hot new underground nightclub [I presume. Not exactly my scene], Marcus—Goldman Sachs’ new online lending platform aimed at the consumer banking segment—requires a password. Goldman’s reportedly sending out the...more
Holding companies appear to be an important new feature of the “living will” revisions the big banks have been making in an effort to appease the Fed and FDIC’s efforts to stamp out “too big to fail” entities. The idea is for...more