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Wells Fargo

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Wells Fargo & Co.
Company typePublic (NYSE: WFC)
Industryfinancial sector Edit this on Wikidata
FoundedNew York, New York, USA (March 18, 1852)
Headquarters420 Montgomery, San Francisco, California/ Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
Key people
Richard Kovacevich,
Chairman
John Stumpf,
President and CEO
ProductsRetail Banking
Insurance
Payday advance
Mortgages
Consumer Finance
Corporate and Investment Banking
RevenueIncreaseUS $35.691 billion (2006)
IncreaseUS $25.033 billion (2006)
Increase$8.484 billion USD (2006)
Number of employees
160,000(2007)
Websitewww.wellsfargo.com
File:Wellsfargobankberkeley.jpg
An older Wells Fargo branch, located in Berkeley, California
Wells Fargo's corporate headquarters in San Francisco

Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) is a diversified financial services company in the United States with operations around the world. Wells Fargo is the 5th largest bank in the US by assets and the 9th largest bank in the world by market cap.[1] It is the only bank in the U.S., and one of only two banks worldwide, to have the highest credit rating from both Moody's Investors Service, "Aaa," and Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, "AAA."

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Wells Fargo is a result of an acquisition of California-based Wells Fargo & Co. by Minneapolis-based Norwest Corporation in 1998.[2] The new company chose to keep the name Wells Fargo, to capitalize on the 150-year history of the nationally-recognized Wells Fargo name and its trademark stagecoach (the company's slogan, "The Next Stage," is a nod to the company's wagons-west motif). After the acquisition, the parent company moved its headquarters to San Francisco.

As of Q3, As of 2007, Wells Fargo has 5,928 retail branches, over 23 million customers, and 160,000 employees.

Lines of business

Wells Fargo offers a range of financial services, claiming in one investor presentation to operate more than 80 divisions. [3] In addition, the company claims to be one of the most "integrated" of financial services companies. For example, Wells Fargo stock brokers sit in retail branches.[citation needed]

Wells Fargo delineates three different business segments when reporting results: Retail Banking, Wholesale Banking, and Consumer Finance. This is unlike many other financial services companies which provide more detail about particular businesses or product lines. [citation needed]

Community Banking

The Community Banking segment includes Regional Banking, Wealth Management Group Diversified Products and the Consumer Deposits groups. Wells Fargo personal-account clients are encouraged to purchase multiple-product packages offering preferred-client discounts. Examples of such packages are:

  • "Wells Fargo Premium Membership Account" tied to payroll direct deposit from a participating employer;
  • "Wells Fargo Complete Advantage Account" tied to balances in multiple deposit accounts, loans, or a home mortgage;
  • "Wells Fargo Portfolio Management Account" tied to balances in brokerage accounts, IRAs, deposits, and loans.

Wells Fargo also has around 9,400 stand alone mortgage branches throughout the country. It also does mortgage wholesale lending through independent mortgage brokers.

Internet services

Wells Fargo launched its PC banking service in 1989 and was the first bank to introduce access to banking accounts on the web in May 1995. Using Wells Fargo's Online Banking, consumers can pay bills to anyone in the U.S., trade securities, view their account information, and transfer money between their Wells Fargo accounts or to other Wells Fargo account holders. In addition to banking and trading online, the online service lets customers apply for new accounts and products, find the nearest ATM or branch, change their address, view canceled checks, deposits and statements, enroll in account alerts, track their spending habits through Wells Fargo's "My Spending Report" and set and track savings goals with "My Savings Plan". To protect customers from fraud, Wells Fargo introduced e-mail sent to your online banking or personal e-mail and send wireless alerts if high-risk transactions are detected.

Wells Fargo's Business Online Banking gives small business owners all the services available to consumers, plus access to reporting tools and services to help them manage their business finances. New offerings, such as account-based alerts, check images, spending reports, delegation, and payment suite functionality have been designed specifically for businesses.

Wells Fargo has also released a virtual community called "[Stagecoach Island]" This online community appears to be very similar to the wildly popular "Second Life" produced by Linden Lab[citation needed]

however no mention of Second Life is made on the Stagecoach island website.

Wholesale

The Wholesale Banking segment contains products sold to large and middle market commercial companies, as well as to consumers on a wholesale basis. This includes lending, treasury management, mutual funds, asset-based lending, commercial real estate,corporate and institutional trust services, and investment banking through Wells Fargo Capital Management. Wells Fargo historically has avoided large corporate loans as stand-alone products, instead requiring that borrowers purchase other products along with loans-- which the bank sees as a loss leader. One area that is very profitable to Wells, however, is asset-based lending: lending to large companies using assets as collateral that are not normally used in other loans. This can be compared to subprime lending, but on a corporate level. The main brand name for this activity is "Wells Fargo Foothill," and is regularly marketed in tombstone ads in the Wall Street Journal. Wells Fargo also owns Eastdil Secured, which is described as a "real estate investment bank" but is essentially one of the largest commercial real estate brokers for very large transactions (such as the purchase and sale of large Class-A office buildings in central business districts throughout the United States).

Consumer finance

Wells Fargo Financial is the consumer finance segment. It engages in lending through over 1,000 branches throughout the U.S. and in certain other countries. This division also engages in "indirect lending" for such organizations as furniture retailers. This business is based out of Des Moines, Iowa. Norwest purchased DIAL Finance before its acquisition with Wells Fargo. The Home Mortgage group is based out of West Des Moines, Iowa.

Business model

The present business model of Wells Fargo is summed up in its vision statement: "We want to satisfy all of our customers' financial needs, help them succeed financially, be the premier provider of financial services in every one of our markets, and be known as one of America's great companies."[4]

Wells Fargo's goal is to encourage its customers to buy all their financial products through Wells Fargo: "We want to earn 100 percent of our customers' business. The more products customers have with Wells Fargo the better deal they get, the more loyal they are, and the longer they stay with the company, improving retention. Eighty percent of our revenue growth comes from selling more products to existing customers. Our goal: sell at least eight products to every customer."[5]

This is a concept known as "cross-selling," or as Wells Fargo refers to it, "needs-based selling," which is popular in the financial services industry. While earlier companies, such as Prudential, pioneered the concept of selling a variety of products, they acted merely as holding companies and each product was sold through its own distribution channel. However, predecessor Norwest pioneered selling all its products through all its channels, with discounts given to those who purchase a larger variety.

The average "cross-sell ratio" for a financial institution is two (based on an average American consumer owning sixteen different financial products from eight different institutions). Wells Fargo purports to have a cross-sell ratio of 5.2 products per Community Banking household (almost one in five have more than eight), six for Wholesale Banking customers, and the average middle-market commercial banking customer has more than seven products, which is among the highest in the country.[6] (Washington Mutual was beating them at the end of 2003 with a 5.59 ratio.[7]) Achieving such a high cross-sell ratio would result in a financial services version of the "agglomerator" business model, most popular among the big-box retailers, such as Home Depot, Office Depot, and Wal-Mart. In order to facilitate achievement of this goal, Wells Fargo lobbied hard for deregulation of the banking industry, and for repeal of many of the laws that were passed during the Great Depression like the Glass-Steagall Act.[citation needed]

Wells Fargo Corporate Buildings

Wells Fargo Plaza in Houston (center).

History

Main article: History of Wells Fargo

Key dates

  • 1852: Henry Wells and William G. Fargo, the two founders of American Express, form Wells, Fargo & Company to provide express and banking services to California.
  • 1860: Wells Fargo gains control of Butterfield Overland Mail Company, leading to operation of the western portion of the Pony Express.
  • 1866: 'Grand consolidation' unites Wells Fargo, Holladay, and Overland Mail stage lines under the Wells Fargo name.
  • 1904: A.P. Giannini creates the Bank of Italy in San Francisco.
  • 1905: Wells Fargo separates its banking and express operations; Wells Fargo's bank is merged with the Nevada National Bank to form the Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank.
  • 1918: As a wartime measure, the U.S. government nationalizes Wells Fargo's franchise into a government agency known as the American Railway Express Agency. The government takes control of everything except the bank. The bank begins rebuilding but with a focus on commercial markets.
  • 1923: Wells Fargo Nevada merges with the Union Trust Company to form the Wells Fargo Bank & Union Trust Company.
  • 1928: Giannini forms Transamerica Corporation as a holding company for his banking and other interests.
  • 1929: Northwest Bancorporation, or Banco, is formed as a banking association.
  • 1954: Wells shortens its name to Wells Fargo Bank.
  • 1957: Transamerica spins off its banking operations, including 23 banks in 11 western states, as Firstamerica Corporation.
  • 1960: Wells Fargo merges with American Trust Company to form the Wells Fargo Bank American Trust Company.
  • 1961: Firstamerica changes its name to Western Bancorporation.
  • 1962: Wells again shortens its name to Wells Fargo Bank.
  • 1968: Wells converts to a federal banking charter, becoming Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.
  • 1969: Wells Fargo & Company holding company is formed, with Wells Fargo Bank as its main subsidiary.
  • 1981: Western Bancorporation changes its name to First Interstate Bancorp.
  • 1982: Banco acquires consumer finance firm Dial Corporation, which is renamed Norwest Financial Service the following year.
  • 1983: Banco is renamed Norwest Corporation.
  • 1983: Largest U.S. bank heist to date takes place at a Wells Fargo depot in West Hartford, Connecticut.
  • 1986: Wells Fargo acquires Crocker National Corporation from Midland Bank.
  • 1987: Wells Fargo acquires the personal trust business of Bank of America.
  • 1988: Wells Fargo acquires Barclays Bank of California from Barclays plc.
  • 1995: Wells Fargo becomes the first major financial services firm to offer Internet banking.
  • 1996: Wells Fargo acquires First Interstate for $17.3 billion.
  • 1998: Norwest acquires Wells Fargo for $31.7 billion and adopts the Wells Fargo name.
  • 2000: Wells Fargo acquires First Security Corporation.
  • 2007: Wells Fargo acquires CIT Construction

Corporate predecessors

Wells Fargo & Company is an agglomeration of more than 2,000 mergers.[citation needed] The holding company was previously known as Norwest Corporation and before that as Northwestern National Bank (BANCO). Norwest was "one of the most acquisitive banks of the 1990's...."[8] Most of the management and the business model of the present day Wells Fargo come from Norwest Bank, and the stock history of Wells Fargo is that of Norwest.

Selected predecessor companies

Recent controversies

A Wells Fargo branch in Logan, Utah

Like many large-scale companies, Wells Fargo has attracted many vocal detractors who protest their business practices, customer service, fee levels, and other aspects of the company. There is even a Wells Fargo Watch project dedicated to tracking all alleged instances of corporate malfeasance, especially ongoing investigations into alleged predatory lending practices[9] in Wells' mortgage division.

In September 2003, New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer sought information about the lending practices of Wells Fargo and other national banks. Two suits seeking injunctive relief were filed against Spitzer, one by the Office of the Comptroller of Currency and one by the Clearinghouse association of banks, asserting that Spitzer had no authority to regulate the activities of national banks. The suits both resulted in the granting of injunctive relief preventing the continuation of Spitzer's efforts to obtain bank information, including Wells Fargo information.

In December 2005, the parachurch group Focus on the Family ended its banking relationship[10] with Wells Fargo, due to the group's opposition to the gay rights movement, after the company announced that it was matching contributions to GLAAD. Wells Fargo continued the program and received widespread support in the face of the boycott, which had no other high-profile participants.

Wells Fargo is respected for its policies and management which have kept the company away from questionable business practices which have hurt the reputation of many of its competitors in the past decade:

  • Its stock research operations were not part of the Global Settlement lawsuit against major brokerage firms for conflicted research
  • Its insurance brokerage division was not accused by Eliot Spitzer of engaging in an illegal contingent commission scheme, even though it has the 5th largest insurance brokerage practice and nearly all other major brokerages were accused
  • Its Mutual Fund division was not found to have let others engage in illegal market timing, even though many of the largest fund companies were accused of this.
  • Its subprime lending division, although criticized by ACORN and others, never had to pay out any of the major fines that its peers such as Household Financial or CitiFinancial had to.

The relationship between the bank's Board of Directors and its shareholders has at times been contentious. The Board of Directors has recommended voting against every single shareholder proposal since 2002. [11] Many of these proposals were warnings to the company, heeding them to stop predatory lending and other controversial practices.

See also

References

  1. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ Oman, Mark. "UBS Global Financial Services Conference." [PDF] Investor Presentation. San Francisco: Wells Fargo & Co., 11 May 2005. pp. 17, 23. URL accessed 7 November 2005.
  4. ^ "Where We're Headed: Our Vision." Vision and Values. URL accessed 26 October 2005.
  5. ^ "How We Measure Success." Vision and Values. URL accessed 26 October 2005.
  6. ^ "Financial Review: Overview." 'Wells Fargo Annual Report 2004. [PDF] San Francisco: Wells Fargo & Co., 2005. p. 35. URL accessed on 27 October 2005.
  7. ^ "2003 Highlights." [PDF] '2003 Summary Annual Report. Seattle, Washington: Washington Mutual, 2004. p. 3. URL accessed 27 October 2005.
  8. ^ "Attractions in Denver Colorado: Wells Fargo Center." Denver Travel Guide. URL accessed 26 October 2005.
  9. ^ ACORN. "Under Pressure, Wells Fargo Makes Reforms." Press Release. 16 September 2005. URL accessed 19 October 2005.
  10. ^ Focus on the Family. Focus on the Family Severs Ties with Wells Fargo. 1 December 2005. URL accessed 27 March 2006.
  11. ^ Predatorix. "Wells Fargo's Board of Directors rejected every stockholder proposal since 2002." URL accessed 12 September 2007.


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