Wells Fargo HR slammed for poor handling of 2016 fake-account aftermath

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The human resource department at Wells Fargo received a sharp rebuke over their handling of the 2016 fake-account scandal from a top bank regulator with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

The regulator issued warnings to the Wells Fargo HR department in July, with a list of issues to manage, including addressing 3,000 employee complaints and putting systems in place to deal with clawback compensation and other oversight failures linked to the fake-account scandal, according to The Wall Street Journal.

However, the regulator added new warnings to existing issues, called “Matters requiring attention,” according to sources from Wells Fargo who spoke to the Journal. The warnings were added despite the regulator admitting some progress had been made. However, the bank failed to do enough to ensure pay practices didn’t encourage wrongdoing.

Additionally, the letter said Wells Fargo lacked adequate procedures to claw back compensation from executives suspected of wrongdoing, according to employees who spoke to the Journal.

“We do not comment on specific regulatory matters, however, Wells Fargo is making progress on our regulatory obligations but more work needs to be done,” a bank spokeswoman told the Journal.

Between 2011 and 2016, Wells Fargo was charged with opening millions of fake customer bank accounts using fake emails and pin numbers, and funded the fraudulent accounts with customer money, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Wells Fargo fired 5,300 employees affiliated with the scandal and reached a $185 million dollar settlement, including $100 million paid to the CFPB. Additionally, Wells Fargo refunded $5 million to bank customers affected by the breech.

In October, Charles Scharf was named the new CEO and he’s hired Scott Powell as chief operating officer.

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