Concerns have resurfaced about sales practices at Wells Fargo almost a decade after the bank was embroiled in a fake account scandal. According to a report by the Committee for Better Banks, a coalition representing frontline bank workers and unions, the pressure on staff to deliver sales goals has returned at the US bank.
The findings come after Wells Fargo was hit with a record fine by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2016 after employees had opened millions of unauthorised accounts for customers to meet aggressive internal sales targets. The scandal resulted in sweeping changes at the bank, which included the removal of product-based sales goals for retail staff. However, the report alleges that sales goals are being reintroduced under new terminology, such as “outcomes”, with scores on these metrics determining whether employees will receive raises, incentives or bonuses. The report finds that branch managers are also required to track “production outcomes”, such as new accounts opened and loan growth, with lower-volume branches flagged for possible closure. The report further states that employees at the bank say “outbound calling requirements”, once common during the scandal era to push sales, have returned. Staff performance, the report suggests, is being measured by the number of calls made to clients, the number of customer contacts made, and the number of appointments booked. These metrics, according to existing staff cited in the report, have become a formal part of performance evaluations, a shift that they view as a return to pre-scandal practices. “Wells Fargo workers are telling us loud and clear: the conditions that led to billions in fines and widespread consumer harm are returning,” said Nick Weiner, organising director at the Committee for Better Banks. When the CFPB issued its fine totalling $185mn in 2016, it said that thousands of employees at Wells Fargo may have opened more than 2mn deposit and credit card accounts across the country without customers’ permission. Richard Cordray, then director of the CFPB, said at the time that the penalty “should serve notice to the entire industry”.