Wells Fargo began as a delivery service and a bank in Francisco California in 1852. Its operation encountered many crises as it developed until the 2016 saga. In 2016, Wells Fargo company employees interfered with the customer’s credible information by creating new customer bank accounts without their authorization. In addition, the employees opened up more credit cards in the name of their customers. The employee’s actions were considered outrageous and fraudulent. As an organization, Wells Fargo indulges itself in economic uproar by destroying the reputation it had created for over 100 years (Archer, 2016). The unauthorized deposit accounts created by the employees were about 1,534,280 and later about 85,000 of those accounts incurred a $2 million fees refund.
As a company, Wells Fargo managers experienced lack of accountability. A case is evident where the managers could not stop the creation of accounts which were a replica of the original customer’s account. Wells Fargo organization incurred $185 million civil penalties as fine for their previous actions (Koren, 2016). The company had to compensate their customers, in form of high rates, for interfering with their personal accounts. Wells Fargo had to pay a $50 million fine to the Los Angeles County for the infractions caused and them opening up their case in court (Cowley, 2017). The Fargo company leaders failed in ensuring their employees follow the customer policies and procedures to maintain business integrity. The organization tarnished its reputation and since then, it has a tough time trying to gain the customer’s trust. Therefore, its success still depends on how to manage fraudulent cases and regaining its reputation by training the organization management personnel.
A company’s policy and procedure to safeguard the customer’s private details and prevent third-party interference withhold the organization integrity. Accountable managers and employees will strive to maintain and initiate punishments to those that go against the company’s policy. After the firing and hiring of new employees into the company, Wells Fargo staff should undertake training regarding the company’s ethics, policies and the procedures that maintain integral trust between the organization and customers (Archer, 2016). The needs assessments enable employees to handle challenging issues as they arise, handling customer account cases and manage credentials information (Noe, 2017). A procedural act that regards a customer’s account should first be informed to the owner before interfering with it. This maintains the customer’s integrity and accountability of the employee in indulging with the account.
Individually, employees and managers should be accountable in keeping the customer’s details out of risk. The new hired managers and employees should consider proper training and behavior change to regain the organization reputation. An individual company staff should be able to showcase job knowledge, satisfactory services to the customers and withhold work-related pressures and dilemmas (Noe, 2017). A company staff should be able to understand the repercussion related to account fraud. This will enact proper jurisdictions to every act against the company’s interest.
A banking sector that knowingly violates the customer’s financial resource should face closure and incur penalties and compensate those affected. The Wells Fargo fraudulent act ruined a 100-year reputation and loss of millions in terms of fines and compensations. The fact that employees of the company that conducted the act were fired, it does not prove that such a case might not occur in the future.
References
Archer, S. (2016). Business Insider. Original Wells Fargo.
https://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-wells-fargo-stagecoaches
Cowley, S. (2017). New York Times. Wells Fargo to Claw Back 75 million from Executives.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/10/business/wells-fargo-pay-executives
Koren, J. (2016). Los Angeles Times. Wells Fargo hit with $185 million settlement for “outrageous” sales culture
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-wells-Fargo-settlement-20160907-snap-story.html
Noe, R. (2017). Training and Development. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Needs Assessment, 118.