Wells Fargo "taken behind the woodshed" - time to Breakup Wells Fargo?

Source

The Fed's unprecedented slap at Wells Fargo may cost the bank more than just $400 million this year

Excerpt:

Last week's unprecedented rebuke on Wells Fargo from the Federal Reserve was noteworthy in a number of ways. Never before has the Fed placed a firmwide limit on a bank, stopping them from growing.

Outgoing Fed Chair Janet Yellen described the growth restriction as "unique and more stringent then the penalties the Board has imposed against other bank holding companies for similar unsafe and unsound practices, but is appropriate given the pervasiveness and persistence of the problems at Wells Fargo."

The Fed has enacted this by preventing the bank from growing assets. This means, that all else equal, the bank cannot write any new loans. However, there are some changes within their balance sheet that they can make in order to be able to lend, such that they remain "open for business" in CEO Tim Sloan's words.

Still, these changes may cost them in the region of $400 million of earnings for this year alone, according to the bank's estimates. The rationale for this particular form of punishment stems from the bank having prioritized growth since the financial crisis. In the Fed's view, Wells Fargo failed to increase risk management and oversight alongside that growth. Thus, the central bank decided to limit growth until things like risk management catches up. It also felt the incentive for Wells Fargo to act will be strong, since they will be starved of the growth they seek in the meantime.

Maxine Waters: I want to break up Wells Fargo (9/2016)

Excerpt:

The top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee said Thursday that she is actively working to break up Wells Fargo. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) announced that the creation of potentially 2 million fake accounts by bank employees has led her to believe the bank is too large to be effectively managed.

“I have come to the conclusion that Wells Fargo should be broken up. It’s too big to manage,” she said. “I’m moving forward to break up Wells Fargo bank.” Waters made her announcement at a hearing with John Stumpf, the bank’s CEO and board chairman. For several hours, Stumpf was excoriated by members of both parties by the wrongdoing at his bank. The bank potentially created more than 2 million accounts without authorization from customers in order to meet sales goals.

Warren Statement on Fed Chair Yellen's Regulatory Actions Against Wells Fargo

Excerpt:

Today, United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released the following statement on the Federal Reserve's decision to freeze the growth of Wells Fargo and remove four of its board members:

"For months, I have repeatedly pressed Janet Yellen to hold Wells Fargo accountable for its fake accounts scam and push out responsible Board Members. Today she did it - in her last act as Fed Chair. Fines alone will never rein in fraudulent behavior at the big banks and by pushing out Board Members at Wells Fargo, Chair Yellen sends a strong message. Her decision today demonstrates that we have the tools to rein in Wall Street - if our regulators have the guts to use them," said Senator Warren. "The massive fraud at Wells Fargo showed the whole country that we need more accountability on Wall Street. But for more than a year, we've watched as President Trump and his administration raced to turn big banks loose again to once again threaten our whole economy. Trump has filled our top economic jobs with people obsessed with sucking up to Wall Street. Today is Chair Yellen's last day at the Fed. Tomorrow, her replacement will face a choice: show the same kind of courage - or own the next financial crisis." Today, Chair Yellen sent a letter in response to Senator Warren's many calls for removing Wells Fargo Board Members. Read the letter detailing the Fed's actions against Wells Fargo here.

Comment: Reader may think that I care (or am biased) because I am a Wells Fargo retiree. I actually am neutral. As a customer I am very happy with Wells Fargo but I could just as easily be with Charles Schwab.  While we are very diversified, we are also Wells Fargo investors. The stock did take a hit today!

What the Wells Fargo board could decide is that a self-initiated breakup could be best for investors!  Imagine this (a hypothetical even split):

Final: Look ahead to the mid-terms. Imagine a Democratic sweep! Maxine Waters as the chair of the House Financial Services Committee and Elizabeth Warren as the chair of the United States Senate Banking Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection Update:

Statement from $WFC #WellsFargo #TimSloan

https://t.co/pullb5f5rv pic.twitter.com/vyNTtto0Lo

— James Peet (@jrpeet) February 5, 2018

Warren Buffett breaks silence on Wells Fargo

Buffett Says Stumpf ‘Made a Hell of a Mistake’ at Wells Fargo

Excerpt:

Stumpf is a “very decent man” who “made a hell of a mistake,” the billionaire said in an interview posted on CNN’s website Friday. “And he didn’t correct it. That’s the thing.”

Buffett’s comments were his most extensive public remarks on the bank since it agreed in September to pay $185 million to settle allegations that employees set up credit-card and deposit accounts without customers’ permission. Staff have said they were encouraged by cross-selling targets to open as many accounts as possible. “It was a dumb incentive system,” said Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is the largest investor in Wells Fargo. “When they found out it was dumb, they didn’t do anything about it.”

Comment: Agreed. Image source is CNN Money

Assessing Wells Fargo

Tim Sloan: The CEO Replacing Wells Fargo’s John Stumpf

Excerpt:

Wells Fargo & Co.’s new chief executive has the right resume: 29 years at the bank, and none of them in its troubled retail unit.

Timothy J. Sloan rose through the commercial, corporate and investment banking side of a firm best known as a Main Street lender, helping with deals including the $15.4 billion crisis-era takeover of struggling Wachovia Corp. Now, he must show he can get a handle on the bank’s sprawling consumer business.

His tasks include fixing a reputation battered by revelations that staff signed customers up for as many as two million accounts without their knowledge to meet lofty sales goals. He will also have to navigate a raft of federal and state investigations, including from the Justice Department. ...

Mr. Sloan ... lives with his family in a Los Angeles suburb and often commutes to Wells Fargo’s San Francisco headquarters during the week. A graduate of the University of Michigan, he joined the bank in 1987 as a vice president with its loan adjustment group.

He worked his way up through jobs in units that made loans to big companies and handled real estate deals. He was named chief financial officer in 2011 and head of wholesale banking in 2014. That side of the business serves corporate customers’ borrowing needs globally, as well as activities like commercial real estate, treasury services, investment banking and insurance.

Comment: Quite the commute! Image source is Bloomberg.

Wells Fargo’s Textbook Case of Botched Crisis Management

Excerpt:

It was clear John Stumpf, chief executive of Wells Fargo & Co., was in trouble on Sept. 20, when senators from both parties castigated him over the bank’s sales practices. “It’s gutless leadership…you should be criminally investigated,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) “This is fraud,” said Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.).

The bank could have been better prepared. Summoned for hearings in Washington, Mr. Stumpf and other executives didn’t answer many questions from legislators—in public or private—about sales practices that had led the bank to agree to a $185 million fine and regulatory enforcement action.

Jon Tester (D., Mont.), said he went into the Senate banking hearing on Wells Fargo with an open mind but was left “pissed off” that the CEO didn’t answer some questions. The bank didn’t try mollifying the senator likely to be Mr. Stumpf’s most dangerous foe, Sen. Warren. “This is a crisis-management 101 mistake,” said an aide to Sen. Warren.

... Even before the hearings, Wells Fargo had been slow-footed in responding to outrage over employee behavior that included opening as many as 2 million unauthorized accounts without customer knowledge.

It misjudged the significance of firing 5,300 employees over five years for related bad behavior, failing to tell its own board of the number before regulators made it public. The botched response, a textbook example of how not to handle a crisis, reached a peak when Mr. Stumpf stepped down Wednesday after nearly 35 years at the bank and nine years as CEO. It was an ignominious end to a chief who had overseen Wells Fargo as it grew, at one point, to be the largest bank in the world by market value. 

At the root of Wells Fargo’s crisis-control debacle is an insular corporate culture, fostered by executives with decades of tenure, which left it ill-prepared for the tumult that followed its regulatory settlement, said several former Wells Fargo executives. Having passed through the financial crisis mostly unscathed, the bank’s brass was largely untested by crisis, these executives said.

Comment: I highlighted insular corporate culture above. This can be a problem in any organization, including, as I've seen, in churches. Note the stock decline since August 1st. We have multi-hundred - it hurts!

What's ahead? What’s Next for Wells Fargo?

Excerpt:

• Justice Department: Federal prosecutors in New York, California and North Carolina are looking into sales practices at Wells Fargo ...They have yet to decide if any case would be civil or criminal, or if there is a case.
• State inquiries: Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen has opened an investigation of the bank, a spokeswoman said Thursday. She said the attorney general has “substantial concerns” about Wells Fargo’s actions and would examine whether state laws had been broken. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office has asked for a meeting with Wells Fargo, her office said late Wednesday . A spokeswoman said the office was concerned by reports that Wells had opened unauthorized accounts before 2011, since last month’s settlement went back only through that year. Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office said last month it had reached out to both the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the bank. Other states are monitoring the matter and could take a higher-profile role in the future.
• Lawmakers: The House Financial Services Committee is conducting its own investigation. It plans to interview more Wells Fargo executives and is collecting more information from the bank and regulators about when the wrongdoing was discovered. Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), the committee chairman, said there could be more hearings. The committee has asked for interviews with new CEO Timothy Sloan, Chief Financial Officer John Shrewsberry, former retail bank head Carrie Tolstedt and Chief Risk Officer Michael Loughlin. Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee have also asked the bank for more information, including state-by-state data on affected customers and how the bank might fix credit scores for harmed customers.
• Local governments: California, Illinois, Chicago, and Seattle, among others, have said they will curb their business relationships with Wells Fargo. The bank has said it is disappointed in those decisions, noting that its municipal relationships are separate from the retail bank.
• SEC: Democratic lawmakers asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether the bank misled investors by not disclosing the sales problems sooner. The bank has said that the problems weren’t material.
• DOL: The Labor Department is conducting a review of the bank’s treatment of employees, including whether Wells Fargo skirted overtime rules. The move follows a letter from Democratic senators urging an investigation.
• Internal investigation: Wells Fargo’s board is also conducting its own inquiry about what went wrong, and the bank is reviewing all accounts back to 2009. (The settlement went back to 2011.) John Stumpf, who stepped down as CEO on Wednesday, was asked at the House hearing if the bank would go back further.
• Executive pay: The board already took back $41 million of Mr. Stumpf’s compensation, but he’s still eligible for about $120 million in total compensation earned over his career, according to an independent analysis conducted for The Journal. The board could choose to claw back more of his pay, according to a person familiar with the matter. It could also look to do so for other executives, the person added.
• Private lawsuits: Class-action lawyers have been busily recruiting both employees and investors who say they were wronged, and some lawsuits have already been filed.
• Shareholders: The CtW Investment Group has asked the bank for shareholders to be allowed to vote next spring on changes including two new board members. Shareholders have until mid November to submit other proposals for next year’s annual meeting.

Comment: Boiling caldron source. I would liken the years ahead to the song of the witches from MacBeth:

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and caldron bubble.
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg and howlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and caldron bubble.
Cool it with a baboon's blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.

A Sacrifice to the "Beltway gods"

Wells Fargo’s Political Sacrifice - CEO John Stumpf is offered up to the Beltway gods.

Excerpt:

The political class got its second ritual sacrifice for the sins of Wells Fargo, as the bank’s chairman and CEO John Stumpf resigned Wednesday, effective immediately.

Mr. Stumpf had already forfeited $41 million in unvested equity grants as recompense for the sales tactics that caused employees to open accounts that customers hadn’t asked for. Now he’s paying with his job, as the bank tries to appease the political lords who under Dodd-Frank have become more or less co-owners of our largest banks. The politicians claim to want compensation clawbacks, but what they really want are heads on pikes.

You won’t read this elsewhere, but Mr. Stumpf has been one of the most successful American CEOs of recent times. Our colleague Dennis Berman reports that in nine years he produced some $149 billion in profits and saw an increase in market cap of $124 billion. Wells Fargo tried to turn down the government’s rescue funds during the 2008 financial panic because it didn’t need the help, only to be forced by Treasury to take the money.

Comments:  Oh the selective outrage in DC. Dump on Trump (he deserved it) and demand clawbacks (deserved and delivered). Why not demand clawbacks from Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew for his Cayman connections or his tenure at Citi when it received taxpayer bailouts of $45 billion in cash, and hundreds of billions more in loans and guarantees. See Rep. Garrett Says Democrats Have Double Standard for Clawback Rules . Oh the outage over Trump (this is more the media, I suppose (and deserved)) but none for Hillary for her campaign's mocking of Catholics, Southerners, ‘needy Latinos’

Wells Fargo: Tarnished Waif?

Wells Fargo Was Once Golden Child of Banking Industry

Excerpt:

In the depths of the financial crisis, as other banks floundered, Wells Fargo and its CEO, John Stumpf, rocketed onto the national stage by outmaneuvering New York rival Citigroup Inc. to scoop up Wachovia Corp. Mr. Stumpf extolled the company’s teamwork as a key ingredient of Wells Fargo’s “secret sauce.” The momentum only continued.

In 2013, with its stock price soaring, Wells Fargo topped J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. as the most valuable U.S. bank. In 2014, it became the biggest U.S. bank by market value of all time.

Comment: Stock chart above is WFC to JPM for a year. Unfortunately we have 10X shares of WFC to JPM.  My guess is that it will take Wells 2 years to recover. The wife thinks 10.

Wells Fargo: John Stumpf retires, Tim Sloan new CEO

Wells Fargo Chairman, CEO John Stumpf Retires; Board of Directors Elects Tim Sloan CEO, Director; Appoints Lead Director Stephen Sanger Chairman, Director Elizabeth Duke Vice Chair

Excerpt:

Wells Fargo announced today that Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Stumpf has informed the Company’s Board of Directors that he is retiring from the Company and the Board, effective immediately. The Board has elected Tim Sloan, the Company’s President and Chief Operating Officer, to succeed him as CEO, and Stephen Sanger, its Lead Director, to serve as the Board’s non-executive Chairman, and independent director Elizabeth Duke to serve as Vice Chair. Sloan also was elected to the Board.

Sloan’s appointment to CEO and election to the Board are effective immediately. He will retain the title of President.

Sanger said, “John Stumpf has dedicated his professional life to banking, successfully leading Wells Fargo through the financial crisis and the largest merger in banking history, and helping to create one of the strongest and most well-known financial services companies in the world. However, he believes new leadership at this time is appropriate to guide Wells Fargo through its current challenges and take the Company forward. The Board of Directors has great confidence in Tim Sloan. He is a proven leader who knows Wells Fargo’s operations deeply, holds the respect of its stakeholders, and is ready to lead the Company into the future.”

Stumpf, a 34-year veteran of the Company, joined Wells Fargo in 1982 as part of the former Norwest Bank, becoming Wells Fargo’s CEO in June 2007 and its chairman in January 2010.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to have led Wells Fargo,” Stumpf said. “I am also very optimistic about its future, because of our talented and caring team members and the goodwill the stagecoach continues to enjoy with tens of millions of customers. While I have been deeply committed and focused on managing the Company through this period, I have decided it is best for the Company that I step aside. I know no better individual to lead this company forward than Tim Sloan.”

Sloan said, “It’s a great privilege to have the opportunity to lead one of America’s most storied companies at a critical juncture in its history. My immediate and highest priority is to restore trust in Wells Fargo. It’s a tremendous responsibility, one which I look forward to taking on, because of the incredible caliber of our people, and the opportunity we have to impact the lives of our millions of customers around the world. We will work tirelessly to build a stronger and better Wells Fargo for generations to come.”

Sloan joined Wells Fargo 29 years ago, launching a career that would include numerous leadership roles across the Company’s wholesale and commercial banking operations, including as head of Commercial Banking, Real Estate and Specialized Financial Services. He became president and COO in November 2015, when he assumed leadership over the Company’s four main business groups: Community Banking, Consumer Lending, Wealth and Investment Management and Wholesale Banking. Previously, he headed the Wholesale Banking group after serving as the Company’s Chief Financial Officer and, prior to that, as the Company’s Chief Administrative Officer.

Comments: Image capture from Wells Fargo site.  I am not surprised and this is the best to resolve the scandal. WSJ article. Stumpf photo screen shot from article.

Update on 10/13/16: James Cramer noted this on CNBC this AM. Stumpf still on WF site

John Stumpf - Carrie Tolstedt Clawback

Wells Fargo Chief to Forfeit $41 Million in Wake of Scandal

Excerpt:

As John G. Stumpf, the chief executive of Wells Fargo, prepares to face a congressional tribunal on Thursday for the second time in two weeks, questions are intensifying about the bank’s sham accounts scandal and its lethargic response to it.

And late Tuesday, with the focus of the criticism spreading from the bank’s chief executive to its board, the company’s directors took action. Announcing an investigation into the bank’s sales practices, the board said Mr. Stumpf would forfeit approximately $41 million worth of stock awards, forgo his salary during the inquiry and receive no bonus for 2016.

The Wells Fargo board also announced the immediate retirement of Carrie L. Tolstedt, the former senior executive vice president of community banking, who ran the unit where the fake accounts were created. She will forfeit $19 million in stock grants, will receive neither a bonus for this year nor a severance, and will be denied certain enhancements in retirement pay, the board said.

Comment: Appropriate.  Image source for Tolstedt

John Stumpf's survival chances

Warren Buffett to Fox Business: I'll Remain Silent on Wells Fargo for Now

Excerpt:

If history is any guide, Buffett can't be thrilled about the ethics lapse.

25 years ago this month, Buffett testified before a Congressional sub-committee regarding the Salomon Brothers bond scandal. Buffett had become a major shareholder in Salomon when it was revealed that traders had been submitting false Treasury bond bids in order to skirt trading rules. Buffett swiftly took over as CEO and fired a number of management.

At the time, he said during the testimony, "Lose money for my firm and I will be understanding; lose a shred of reputation for the firm, and I will be ruthless."

Whipping Wells Fargo - The bank blundered, and the politicians will make it pay.

Excerpt:

Now we see that even bread-and-butter retail can lead to political retaliation as Senators call for Mr. Stumpf to resign and demand a criminal investigation. Readers know that unauthorized accounts are an affront to customers, but Senate progressives on Tuesday described sales targets as inherently evil. Senators also want executive-pay clawbacks, though the scandal has hardly dented bank earnings.

Mr. Stumpf, who will be lucky to survive as CEO, is learning the hard way that as long as banks remain public utilities they are a lousy business.

Comment: "Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) holds a near 10% stake in Wells Fargo (WFC). The Oracle of Omaha has been a longtime fan of the company but his silence may speak more loudly after Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf gave a rocky performance on Capitol Hill before the Senate Banking Committee Tuesday morning. " My view below:

Wells Fargo once a "most admired" company! Since breaking of the scandal, Wells Fargo has lost $ 25 Billion in Market Capitalism. "“The stock has gone from loved to loathed in two to three weeks"

Wells Fargo is absolutely getting hammered on social media. Snip from Facebook below:

Updated: Multiple fired Wells Fargo employees report to CNN that they were fired after calling ethics hotline.

Wells Fargo: A Disconnect in Visions and Values

Wall Street Journal: How Wells Fargo’s High-Pressure Sales Culture Spiraled Out of Control

Excerpt:

They say many branch managers routinely monitored employees’ progress toward meeting sales goals, sometimes hourly, and sales numbers at the branch level were reported to higher-ranking managers as many as seven times a day. Tension about how to meet the sales targets was common.

“If somebody said: ‘This doesn’t make sense. Where are you getting these sales goals?’ then [the response] was: ‘No, you can do it’ or ‘You’re negative’ or ‘Oh, you’re not a team player,’” says Ruth Landaverde, a former Wells Fargo credit manager in Palmdale, Calif.

She says she often got the same response whenever she said a customer didn’t need another credit card. “The answer was: ‘Yes, they do,’” she says. She quit after being warned she wasn’t reaching her sales goals, she says.

Employees at a Wells Fargo branch in Lincoln, Neb., had a daily goal to open two new checking accounts and make eight other product sales, says Steven Schrodt, who worked there from 2010 to 2012.

Managers asked employees who had fallen short of the targets if they could open accounts for their mother, siblings or friends, according to Mr. Schrodt and other former employees. He says he opened about 15 accounts for friends and family members. Mr. Schrodt says he decided to leave Wells Fargo because the sales pressure was too stressful. He is now in law school.

John Stumpf: The Vision and Values of Wells Fargo

Excerpt:

Our progress has not been perfect. The expectations of others, and the even higher expectations we have of ourselves, have not always been met. When we make mistakes, we admit them, we learn from them, and we keep moving forward with even more understanding and a deeper commitment to doing what’s right.

We first published a Vision & Values booklet in the early 1990s as Wells Fargo’s predecessor, Norwest Corporation. Since then, we’ve grown from a small regional bank into a national company with a growing global presence.

Today, many of our team members trace their heritage to legacy companies that are now part of the Wells Fargo brand. Each of these companies brought with it new geographies, new capabilities, and inspiring stories. All have found a common cause in adopting our vision and values.

We believe in our vision and values just as strongly today as we did the first time we put them on paper, and staying true to them will guide us toward continued growth and success for decades to come.

As you read more about our vision and values, you will learn about who we are, where we’re headed, and how every Wells Fargo team member can help us get there. We’ve become one of the nation’s largest financial institutions, serving one in three U.S. households and employing approximately one in 600 working Americans.

We have team members in 36 countries, serving 70 million customers in more than 130 countries around the world. Forbes magazine ranks us among the top 10 publicly traded companies in the world based on a composite of sales, assets, profits, and market value. And we are consistently ranked as one of the world’s most respected banks by Barron’s magazine and one of the world’s most admired companies by Fortune magazine.

The reason for this is simple. We’ve never lost sight of putting our customers first and helping them succeed financially. Regardless of our growing size, scope, and reach, our common vision and distinct values form the fabric that holds us together wherever we are, whatever we do. As members of the same team, it doesn’t matter what our respective responsibilities are, our levels or titles, what businesses we’re part of, or where we live and work.

Comments:

• I am both a retiree from Wells Fargo (21 years) and
• I am a happy customer for 20 years
• I have personally never witnessed a violation of Well Fargo's Vision and Values but I was in IT for my entire time.
• I do have a close family member who quit as a Wells Fargo teller because he felt undue pressure to sell products
• In my time as a customer, they have never pushed a product on us. 
• I believe that the nefarious activities have been relatively rare. But in a large company the numbers are likewise large: 1.5 M accounts and .5 M CC accounts. The number of fired employees is likewise large, 5,300! But that was over 5 years and with 300,000 employees the number is statistically small.
• Nevertheless the scandal is real. 
• With any organization, whether a church, government, or business, there will be bad apples
• Upper management must more deeply impress the Vision and Values to the lowest levels and ensure that sales goals do not force this disconnect.

Conservative Smear

Wells Fargo: Proudly Plunging Toward Bankruptcy

Excerpt:

Market watch recently reported that Wells Fargo stock has plunged into its greatest losing streak in nearly nine years. This comes as little surprise given the fact that the company has experienced a takeover at the hands of radical leftists. Leftists may be experts in certain things like organic gardening, herbal healing, and folk music. But they are not known for their expertise in economics and personal finance.

Comment: First I've ever heard of Mike Adams. Smear is shameful from the Left, the Right, or anywhere in between. Stock chart of WFC, BAC, C, and USB over 5 years. WFC is top.

Wells Fargo responds to Vikings "photo-bomb" suit

Wells Fargo to Vikings: Our signs are just fine

 Excerpt:

The Vikings’ position “belies common sense and the purpose of the signage. A sign is made to be seen,” according to the response signed by Lindquist & Vennum lawyers Christopher Grote and Brian Freeman.

The response notes the Vikings’ claim that “raised lettering and illumination of the signage irreparably injures them somehow by distracting from the image of the new stadium.” Wells Fargo’s attorneys call that a “never-before-recognized form of irreparable injury.”

The argument revolves around two signs, 56 feet by 56 feet, on the rooftops of the two 17-story towers. The red-and-gold signs have “Wells Fargo” in letters raised about 1-1/2 feet above the roof surface. The signs have not yet been lighted.

At the heart of the dispute is the multimillion dollar issue of branding. U.S. Bank has paid the Vikings undisclosed millions to put its name on the new stadium to promote the brand in widely broadcast events, including the 2018 Super Bowl. While U.S. Bank isn’t a party to the legal dispute, the Vikings presumably want to protect the value of the naming rights. The Vikings claim the signs would permanently “photo-bomb” the image of “iconic” U.S. Bank Stadium, which they emphasize is a public investment to be protected.

Comment: Full 39 page response here.

Speaking today

Comments: A "lunchinar".

Tyrel Oates looking to a "career in agriculture"

Wells Fargo employee who emailed CEO about pay resigns

Excerpt:

A Wells Fargo employee who made national news last year when he copied thousands of his co-workers on an email asking CEO John Stumpf to give all of them a raise is moving on. Tyrel Oates, who worked in Oregon processing Wells Fargo customer requests to stop debt-collection calls, said he emailed Stumpf a letter of resignation on Friday. Oates, 31, told the Observer he is leaving the bank so he can devote more time to studying for a planned career in agriculture. In his resignation letter, Oates criticizes the company for its “complacent stance” on his request last fall that the San Francisco-based bank give each of its employees a $10,000 raise. According to the resignation letter, about 5,000 people, including Wells Fargo employees and customers, signed a petition supporting his proposed raises. 

Comment: Update to early blog post where I predicted he would not be with Wells Fargo in a year. Image above from this article.

Tyrel Oates' email to the whole company

Wells Fargo employee e-mails pay complaint to CEO, co-workers
Excerpt:

It’s a move that many employees frustrated about their pay probably have dreamed about doing but wouldn’t dare attempt — send a complaint letter to the CEO and copy thousands of co-workers on the e-mail. One brazen Wells Fargo employee in Oregon did exactly that this week. In his letter, 30-year-old Tyrel Oates tells CEO John Stumpf that Wells Fargo can be a leader in reducing income inequality in the U.S. by distributing more profits to employees.

Wells Fargo Employee Calls Out CEO's Pay, Requests Company-Wide Raise In Brave Email Excerpt:

When most employees want a raise, they schedule a meeting with their supervisor or reach out to human resources. A Wells Fargo employee took a markedly different approach: He emailed the CEO -- along with 200,000 co-workers -- asking for a $10,000 raise for everyone in the company.

The Email

Comments: I don't think it went to the entire company. I didn't get it .. Kathee didn't get it. My understanding (and I work closely enough with the process to have some knowledge of it) is that there is a limit to the number of people that can be on an email. In my job function I have to periodically send an email to 500-600 people: and this has to be in a distribution list that has its access secured and only a group with access to the list can add or delete from the list or send to the list. I emailed the CEO once thanking him for a stock bonus that went out to every employee.

Groundbreaking for Downtown East

Wells Fargo and Ryan break ground on Downtown East

Excerpt:

Ryan Cos. US Inc., Wells Fargo & Co., Gov. Mark Dayton and the city of Minneapolis held a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday in Minneapolis to kick off construction of the $400 million Downtown East development. The bank, which will move about 5,000 employees into 1.1 million square feet of office space in the 5-block urban development, demonstrated its commitment to Minneapolis with this project, said Wells Fargo Chairman, President and CEO John Stumpf. "This is not just any other place. This is not just any other building. This is not just any other community. This is Minneapolis. This is where my heart is. This is where our heart is," Stumpf told the crowd of a few hundred people gathered in a tent on part of the site. Other dignitaries at the event included Dayton, Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges and Ryan Cos. CEO and President Pat Ryan.

Comment: We were downtown today but I was at the Northern Operations Center. I'm not sure where Kathee was today (she rode in with me). I think she was at the Tower. We are not likely to move offices here because we are likely to be retired before its opening. More from the Star Tribune. Wiki on Downtown East neighborhood. Ryan Cos project page.

The Wells Fargo preferred stock

Source: quantumonline.com
Today's closing prices:

The Wells Fargo preferred stocks page

Al Pacino calls Wells Fargo

Nicknaming restructuring and lay-offs

Banks Mask Pain With Colorful Nicknames

Excerpt:

There’s nothing like a delicious-sounding nickname to cushion the blow of a painful restructuring. A seemingly endless procession of giant banks have embarked on internal reorganizations in recent years, mopping up messes that originated before the financial crisis. Instead of simply calling the processes what they are – slow and often messy overhauls that can result in shuttered businesses, large losses and laid-off workers – banks have cloaked the restructurings with cheerful monikers.

 .... in the U.K Lloyds Banking Group has adopted Project Verde as its codename for its oft-delayed plans to sell hundreds of its branches. The codename isn’t much of a secret, as Lloyds executives routinely refer to it in public and in official statements.

Not all banks are very creative with code names, especially when it comes to cost-cutting efforts.

Deutsche Bank used Project Integra as a moniker for its investment-banking cost-cutting.

In the U.S., Cleveland-based regional lender KeyCorp has “Keyvolution.” Wells Fargo has Project Compass.

Bank of America’s is Project New BAC (a reference to the bank’s ticker symbol).

The nicknaming trend has drawn ridicule from – who else? – J.P. Morgan Chase boss Jamie Dimon, who has told analysts that his bank is always focused on keeping costs low and doesn’t need silly nicknames to showcase the mission’s importance.

Comment: Insider .... when someone gets laid off we call it "getting compassed". Image source.

Wells Fargo takes Manhattan

Mortgage Gamble Pays Off for Wells
Excerpt:

When a Wells Fargo & Co. stagecoach rolled through lower Manhattan two years ago to mark the rebranding of former Wachovia Corp. bank branches, some New Yorkers laughed. Rival bankers weren't among them. The San Francisco-based bank has become the dominant U.S. mortgage lender, grabbing an unprecedented 28.8% share of all home loans issued nationwide last year, up from 11.2% in 2007, the year before it bought Wachovia. Its home-loan production hit $524 billion last year, the largest annual total ever for one lender and greater than the output of the next five largest lenders combined, according to the publication Inside Mortgage Finance. In the lucrative Manhattan market, Wells issued almost 20% of new home loans—almost equal to the volume of its two biggest competitors together

Comment: It's a great company. I would like to see the New York branch.

19 Years with Wells Fargo

Comments:

• Today is my 19th service anniversary with Norwest - Wells Fargo
• I actually forgot my first job title but it was something like this: "Operations Controller 2"
• My first job was at the 5700 Dtc Pky, Greenwood Village, CO 80111-3226 location. It was 4 miles from our home, a 12 minute drive. Most days I would come home for lunch. The parking was free and an EZ walk to the front entrance.
• My first job responsibilities (I was on a team of 4 with one manager):
• DASD management on a mainframe
• Problem and Change Management
• Production code promotion
• I learned there: JCL, COBOL, PL1, some assembler, ISPF, and REXX
• We had dumb terminals ... and the only E-mail was mainframe mail. We were lucky to get one message a day!
  
  
  
  
• I think my salary was $ 24,000 a year (and I felt rich!)