In 2016, Wells Fargo was accused of opening millions of accounts in the names of clients, who were completely unaware of what was going on. They were signed up for life insurance and other similar programs, as well as many other things involving them, but they did not know this was happening (“Attorney General Shapiro Announces $575 Million 50-State Settlement”). The employees were told to do this in order to meet the company’s sales goals (Kolhatkar, Sheelah). They were pressured into it because their bosses expected higher sales. They started by making fake accounts in the names of their current clients, but then went ahead and added the customers to different financial services without permission (“The Wells Fargo Fake Accounts Scandal”).
In May of 2015, Wells Fargo faces a class action lawsuit, led by Mike Feuer, lawyer of the city of Los Angeles, for the dishonest and complete disregard to the treatment of its workers and clients. As far as the case goes, Wells Fargo has been blamed for setting unrealistic goals for its workers, actuating them to use deceitful means for meeting the set standards. Wells Fargo has basically set itself up for a classic case of “Ill-Conceived Goals, where such high pressures are set onto the workforce, to the point where they are willing to break their own integrity and furthermore the law in order to meet such ridiculous standards as stated above. Los Angeles attorney Feuer started exploring the bank in the wake of a report, in which a few previous
Based on information provided by the financial institution, one could infer that Wells Fargo has a corporate culture that empowered its employees to put their own interests ahead of its customers and a “sales at all costs” culture provided the backdrop for the deed. It seems the underlying cause for the unauthorized accounts with customers’ monies was a sales culture that provided an incentive structure that rewarded employees on the more products they sold. Some employees did not open accounts requested by customers and, instead, accumulated a number of account applications to be opened at a later date. This is called “sandbagging.” Another example is some employees would tell customers that certain products were only available as a package
Which enticed them to use fraudulent ways for meeting the big goals. There have been several former and even present Wells Fargo employees that have come forward to tell their experience of the huge pressure from the bank. The employees used unethical fraudulent means to achieve these nearly impossible sales goals. They did this by opening unauthorized customer accounts, giving out illegal credit cards with lines of credit. They even went as far
According to Fortune, “Executives sought to drive growth by putting undue pressure on its employees to hit sales quotas, and many employees responded by fraudulently opening customer accounts. In most cases these accounts were closed before customers noticed, but in other cases consumers were hit with associated fees or took hits to their credit ratings. The bank was forced to return $2.6 million in ill-gotten fees and pay $186 million in fines to the government. But the biggest hit Wells Fargo will take is to its reputation, as the media and government officials spent much of the year slamming the bank for its fraud,” (Mathews). The victims being the unknowing customers who saw their credit ratings plummet and faced steep financial fees, that were brought about through no fault of their own.
The Wells Fargo scandal included the creation of fake banking accounts, savings accounts, and credit cards. People who were employed at the bank opened these accounts in order to meet goals and make profit. When the fake accounts were discovered 5,300 employees were fired. However, the problem went beyond the fired employees.
The Wells Fargo Fake Accounts Scandal In September 8, 2016 the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that, Wells Fargo is going to pay a combined amount of $185 million fine to the (C.F.P.B.), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the City and County of Los Angeles to settle charges of being engaged in illegal practices of opening two million fake accounts between May 2011 and July 2015. So what exactly happened is that at Wells Fargo employees to reach the sales goals set by the bank executives had open more than 1.5 million deposit accounts and more than 565,000 credit-card accounts without the customer’s consent. Customers were charged fees, had collection agencies calling them due to unpaid fees on accounts
December 23, 2017 Mr. Jaime Dimon Chairman of the Board and CEO J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. 270 Park Avenue, 48th Street New York, NY, 10017 Dear Mr. Jaime Dimon, I am writing to express my interest in the position of entry level Financial Analyst, advertised as being open with your company at this time. I am an experienced professional who is skilled with a background in financial operations, and summarizing information regarding security products, and industry trends. Through my research in this position, I know that J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. is one of the fortune 500 companies ranking in number #21 as the biggest American bank in terms of sales, stock market values and financial services for consumers and small businesses.
Practices such as overcharging the credit transactions, posting payments through ledgers first to charge overdraft fees; is unethical conduct since it doesn't benefit the consumers and it is a form of theft. What's right for customers is also another critical aspect of their code of ethics. Actions such as charging auto-insurance on mortgages that are not defaulted for charges, closing and freezing of bank accounts without proper investigations; deprived the customers of their full access to their accounts (Tayan, 2016). Wells Fargo had the mandate to increase the financial capacity of its clients; however, overcharging diminishes their financial resources. These conducts do not meet the needs of their
The Wells Fargo Fake Accounts Scandal: Implications for Business Environment and Financial Scandals Your Name Department of ABC, University of ABC – Whitewater ABC 101: Course Name Professor (or Dr.) Firstname Lastname Date Introduction Financial scandals have long-lasting effects on both individuals and the broader economy. This research paper explores the Wells Fargo fake accounts scandal as a recent example of a financial scandal and examines its implications within the current business environment. The paper also highlights the significance of financial scandals and the need for stringent regulations and oversight to prevent fraudulent activities.
Due to the scandal, Wells Fargo faced customer confidence issues. Trevino and Nelson suggest customer confidence issues include confidentiality, product safety and effectiveness, truth in advertising, and special fiduciary responsibilities (126). Based on the unethical behavior noted in the scandals, the organization violated the customer’s privacy and failed to perform their fiduciary responsibilities on multiple occasions. Wells Fargo and its employees broken several laws to meet quotas and make profit for the organization. In this scandal, there are legal implications to be faces noted in court documents include but not limited to fraudulently opening accounts without the consent of a customer, falsifying credit documents, identity theft
When it comes to the Ethical Decision Model, it does not just pertain to the employees who opened these accounts but also leadership who either failed to realize what was going on or decided to sweep it under the rug by just covertly firing some employees. Wells Fargo did take the first step in recognizing the problem but failed to define it, which explains why these unethical behaviors continued for so many years. When the corporation was initially aware of what was going on, they should have acted immediately and strategized a solution that would dilute the possibility of it occurring again. Instead of defining the problem, which would have foster, a proper solution but company decided to just terminate
As employees faced pressure to reach quotas, they found ways to cheat the system. If a customer came in to open an account, the employee would simply make it two or three. The intense pressure placed on employees created an environment that not only rewarded dishonesty and malpractice, but made it necessary to maintain employment. Many employees attempted to report these illegal practices to the Wells Fargo ethics line, but action was never taken and the problem escalated.
Under this approach, an action is considered morally bad because of some characteristic of the action itself, not just because the product of the action is bad. Wells Fargo unethical practices demonstrates unethical behavior, under deontological ethical theories as its employees duty to operate in an honest and fair fashion , in providing services to the public. Wells Fargo codes of conduct does not permit sales practices of these sort, therefore the employees who participated in these practices made unethical decisions. Unfortunately there was a wrong-doing on a massive scale. The acts of unethical behavior were conducted by both the employees and management.
A) Introduction Unethical behaviors in business affect everyone since you either work in the field or are a consumer of its services. Unfortunately, almost every company usually has individuals who act unethically whether it is for their personal benefit or for the sake of the company they work for. Unethical behaviors in business might be as simple as using company property or funds for personal gain to inside trading and financial fraud. According to The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, nearly one third of business professionals feel pressured to compromise their ethical standards and are increasingly pushed towards unethical behavior. Moreover, “misconduct is common and accepted by business services professionals, the integrity of entire economic systems is at risk”, states Jordan A. Thomas, partner and chair of the Whistleblower Representation Practice at Labaton Sucharow law firm.
