Wells Fargo doesn't want you to know that its scandal really hasn't hurt the bank
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
The scandal surrounding the opening of 2 million accounts without customers consent by retail banking employees has forced CEO John Stumpf to testify before Congress and led to California and Illinois suspending business with the bank for 12 months.
This has been a huge hit to the image of Wells Fargo, but according to the Wall Street Journal, it hasn't impacted the business too much.
According to a report from the Journal's Emily Glazer, executives at the embattled bank held a conference call on Monday and reported that the scadal has not led to a serious drop-off in new business, but the bank doesn't want people to know that.
COO Timothy Sloan said on the call that the bank was still opening more retail banking accounts than they were closing, but the difference is smaller than it had been in the past. Additionally, executives said that the impact from the loss of government business has been negligible.
Despite this seemingly good news for the bank, Wells Fargo executives don't want the public to know it's not too bad for fear of more retribution.
"We probably won't broadcast that because it might incentivize people to do more, to make it tougher on Wells Fargo, but the story line is worse than the economics at this point," said CFO John Shrewsberry on the call according to the Journal.
Put another way, if lawmakers and the public know that Wells Fargo isn't hurting too bad they may tighten the screws on the bank even more.
This doesn't mean executives think the bank is out of the woods. Stumpf said, according to the Journal, "It's going to be harder for a while, and we get that."
Evidently, however, the bank doesn't want to advertise just how well it's making it through.
Check out the full report on the Wall Street Journal»
- US buys 81 Soviet-era combat aircraft from Russia's ally costing on average less than $20,000 each, report says
- 2 states where home prices are falling because there are too many houses and not enough buyers
- A couple accidentally shipped their cat in an Amazon return package. It arrived safely 6 days later, hundreds of miles away.
- Markets rebound in early trade amid global rally, buying in ICICI Bank and Reliance
- Women in Leadership
- Rupee declines 5 paise to 83.43 against US dollar in early trade
- Election Commission issues notification for sixth phase of Lok Sabha polls
- 6 Coffee recipes you should try this summer