Page 7 - Wells Fargo Bank (C) Case Study

Wells Fargo Bank (WFB):

Vision, Values, Goals and Fraud

“It’s gutless leadership.”

Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of

Massachusetts (7)

Wells Fargo (WFB) was founded by Henry Wells, William G.

Fargo, and associates on March 18, 1852. At this time

stagecoach robberies were infamous and Wells Fargo
focused on safely transporting money from Nebraska to

California by stagecoach.

During the 2007/8 financial crisis WFB emerged largely

unscathed and using its financial strength it purchased

Wachovia Corporation (2008) thereby making it the third-

largest bank in the U.S. by assets and ensuring its
attractiveness to investors with strong operating and stock

price performance. Of all companies worldwide, WFB was

the 26th leading company based on sales, assets, profits,

and market value and had a AAA credit ranking from
Moody’s Investing Services (2015).

With a stock market value of over $273.76 billion in Sept.,
2017 (1) and around $2 t. in assets, Wells Fargo Company

had become the largest financial institution on the west

coast of the United States. Moreover, it had a high cash

volume of over $480 billion in assets.