Corporate Governance
What was the connection between Wells’ CEO and the Board of Directors?
The CEO was also the Chairman of the board of directors
How did the executives pressure the lower-level employees?
There were intense quotas, managers regulated their progress hourly.
Name 2 of the 5 primary values stated in Wells Fargo’s Vision, Value, and Code of Ethics
Value and support our people as a competitive advantage and strive to attract, develop, retain and motivate the most talented people we can find
Strive for highest ethical standards with our team members, customer, communities and shareholders
Respect to customers, strive to base our decisions and actions on what is right for them in everything we do
Team members strive to build and sustain a diverse and inclusive culture. Didn’t do this because they blamed lower-level members
Look to each of our team members to be leading in establishing, sharing, and communicating our vision
What are the 3 main services/ segments of Wells Fargo?
Community Banking, Wholesale Banking, and Wealth and Investment Management
What decision did the Board influence the shareholders to vote against for 11 years?
The shareholders wanted to separate the role of CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors.
How did the employees meet their quotas unethically?
They forged signatures, opened unauthorized accounts, and opened unauthorized credit card accounts.
What did Wells Fargo pride itself in addition to its 5 values?
They prided themselves on risk management.
What did Wells Fargo’s core competency enable them to do?
It enabled them to focus on cross selling
How did the board of directors fail in its regulation of CEO John Stumpf?
The board allowed illegal and unethical practices to occur over a multi-year period within the bank's Community Banking Division.
Why was meeting the quotas such a big deal for the employees?
Their salaries were only $25,000 a year and cross selling could open opportunities for bonuses up to $20,000.
How did Wells Fargo create an outlet for employees to come forward about unethical behaviors?
They had an ethical hotline at Wells Fargo where people could call and discuss matters they felt uncomfortable with.
Name all the sports represented by students in this class.
Volleyball, Basketball, Wrestling, Lacrosse, Tennis
What are ways the board of directors could have better handled the cross-selling situation and the fault between the bank and its customers?
The Board of Directors should have been more involved with monitoring the quota standards and recommended adjusting the numbers required by Wells Fargo to reflect what the employees were capable of.
How many products did Wells Fargo hope to cross-sell to each customer, and did they ever achieve this goal?What happened to employees who did not meet the quotas?
8.0, and no. They were fired or punished. “We were constantly told that if we did not meet the quota we would end up working at Mcdonald’s”. They were also put in what the employees felt like “after school detention”. 5000 employees were fired in the first 5 years of the sales scheme.
How did Wells Fargo go against the nonretaliation policy and the ethics hotline with an employee?
An employee turned to the ethics hotline of Wells Fargo to flag unethical sales he was being instructed to do. After the incident was ignored, he was fired 8 days later on the grounds of tardiness.
How many deposit accounts and how many credit card accounts were opened between 2011 and 2015?
82 million deposit accounts
11 million credit card accounts