This week I begin a five-part series on compliance as seen through the lens of Winnie the Pooh and the characters who live in the Hundred Acre Woods: Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger, Kanga & Roo, and Piglet. Winnie-the-Pooh, also called...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
We often hear about the dangerous risk to a company’s culture from rigorous sales incentive programs. Like most issues, the answer to this issue is not cut and dried....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
In an extraordinary action, with significant ramifications for the financial industry, the Federal Reserve recently announced a series of enforcement actions against Wells Fargo....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
What is risk and how should it be evaluated? What is the data that should be reviewed to determine if an increase in sales is based on unethical or even illegal behavior? Finally, what happens when you migrate company...more
I continue my celebration of Bob Dylan, Nobel Laureate, by reflecting on what many consider to be his greatest recording, Like a Rolling Stone. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine named it as the greatest song of all time....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
Regulators aren’t the only ones after Theranos now. On Monday, one of its major investors—Partner Fund Management—filed suit against the embattled blood-testing company in Delaware state court over an alleged series of...more
Some good news for the UK after a brutal few days for the pound? It appears that the pound’s precipitous fall has acted as a sort of “giant shock absorber” against Brexit—a release valve of sorts that has meant decreased...more
Corporate culture is singular to companies. Yet it also varies from industry to industry. I have been considering why the Wells Fargo scandal has engendered such public outrage. You could consider many factors, such as the...more