Page 24 - Wells Fargo Bank (C) Teaching Note
P. 24
Fraud & Culture
“There can be little doubt, that Wells Fargo is now
associated in the minds of consumers with appalling
customer mistreatment. How may public trust in this
once revered bank be restored?”
Changing the perception embodied in the above quote
may not be readily achieved as it is easy to point out
wrongdoings but rather harder to enforce accountability.
Were the employees to blame or was it the management?
This becomes a moot point when the CEO – Stumpf
blames his employees for wrongdoing and thousands are
sacked.
It may be argued that the employees were incentivised to
commit fraud and failure to achieve was punished,
ultimately by sacking.
Management created the culture at Wells Fargo and in
particularly the CEO and Chairman John Stumpf who said:
“I am not going to be satisfied until every
creditworthy customer…carries our credit card”
Wells Fargo’s business strategy was based on two basis
concepts:
1. Cross selling products to existing customers
