SAN FRANCISCO–Wells Fargo is paying a price beyond just the record fines it paid for the bogus account opening scandal that was fully revealed during 2016.
The bank is now also reporting that new credit card applications were down 43% in the fourth quarter of 2016 from one year earlier, and that new checking account openings fell 40% over the same period. In addition, during Q4 2016 Wells Fargo said teller transactions declined 6% from a year ago, while customer interactions with the bankers in the branches declined 14%.
Nevertheless, despite all the challenges and negative headlines, Wells Fargo reported it saw an increase in deposits during the quarter, and that spending on its plastic cards was also up over one year earlier.
Overall, Wells Fargo reported a larger loss than had been expected for Q4, with its profits falling 4.3% to $21.9 billion.
That loss, said Wells Fargo, was not the result of the account-opening scandal, but instead reflected an accounting quirk in the way it hedges the fluctuating value of its debt holdings.
“While we have more work to do,” said the bank’s CEO, Timothy Sloan, in a statement, “I am proud of the effort of our entire team to make things right for our customers and team members and to continue building a better Wells Fargo for the future.”