Wells Fargo Responds to OCC Actions Regarding Former Employees

In response to actions announced today by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Wells Fargo & Company CEO and President Charlie Scharf issued the following message to all employees:

Dear Colleagues,

Today the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced a series of actions against former employees regarding their behavior around the historical Community Banking sales practices. In addition, the OCC provided a detailed account of business practices and management responses based on its extensive investigation.

The OCC’s actions are consistent with my belief that we should hold ourselves and individuals accountable. They also are consistent with our belief that significant parts of the operating model of our Community Bank were flawed. At the time of the sales practices issues, the Company did not have in place the appropriate people, structure, processes, controls, or culture to prevent the inappropriate conduct.

This was inexcusable. Our customers and you all deserved more from the leadership of this Company.

We are reviewing today’s filings and will determine what, if any, further action by the Company is appropriate with respect to any of the named individuals. Wells Fargo will not make any remaining compensation payments that may be owed to these individuals while we review the filings.

Over the past three years, the Company has made fundamental changes to its business model, compensation programs, leadership, and governance. We are committing all necessary resources to ensure that we operate with the strongest business practices and controls, maintain the highest level of integrity, and have in place the appropriate culture. The Company is different today, but we know we still have significant work to do to regain the trust of all stakeholders.

I know these things that have occurred in the past have made many of your jobs more difficult.

We must all dedicate ourselves to ensuring that such failings never again occur at Wells Fargo.

About Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.9 trillion in assets. Wells Fargo’s vision is to satisfy our customers’ financial needs and help them succeed financially. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, investment and mortgage products and services, as well as consumer and commercial finance, through 7,400 locations, more than 13,000 ATMs, the internet (wellsfargo.com) and mobile banking, and has offices in 32 countries and territories to support customers who conduct business in the global economy. With approximately 260,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 29 on Fortune’s 2019 rankings of America’s largest corporations. News, insights and perspectives from Wells Fargo are also available at Wells Fargo Stories.

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