SAN FRANCISCO–New allegations of abusive practices by Wells Fargo have emerged, this time in its business banking services.
Some employees of the bank allegedly altered information on documents related to corporate customers, according to the Wall Street Journal. The news comes as Wells Fargo is operating under sanctions from the Federal Reserve and other regulators related to numerous abusive practices, including opening more than three-million fake customer accounts in order to meet aggressive sales goals.
“The employees in Wells Fargo’s so-called wholesale unit, which is separate from its retail bank, added or altered information without customers’ knowledge, according to the people familiar with the matter,” the Journal reported. “The information added varied from social security numbers to addresses to dates of birth for people associated with business-banking clients, the people said.”
Trying to Meet Deadline
The behavior allegedly took place in 2017 and early 2018 as Wells Fargo was trying to meet a deadline to comply with a regulatory consent order related to the bank’s anti-money-laundering controls, the Journal reported. The employees were also working to get documents in order prior to new requirements from another regulator for disclosures related to proof of beneficial ownership of businesses, the report added
The Journal said Wells Fargo became aware of the behavior in recent months from employees, and after investigating, the bank discovered the behavior wasn’t an isolated incident. The investigation is ongoing and Wells Fargo has reported the problem to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Journal reported.
In a statement, Wells Fargo said the matter “involves documents used for internal purposes. No customers were negatively impacted, no data left the company, and no products or services were sold as a result.”
In April, Wells Fargo agreed to pay more than $1 billion in fines to settle charges brought against it over its practices.