Wells Fargo said Friday its retail banking business slumped in January, as the San Francisco-based company continues to feel effects of a major sales scandal.
The bank reported declines in both consumer checking account openings and consumer credit card applications compared with the same month last year. Customer interactions with bankers also dropped.
It’s the latest in a series of monthly updates Wells has been providing investors since authorities fined it $185 million in September over claims employees potentially opened millions of accounts without customers’ permission to meet high-pressure sales targets.
Charlotte-based community banking head Mary Mack said in a statement that “trends were relatively stable in January and within our expectations.”
“We have made good progress,” she said, citing the bank’s introduction in January of a new compensation plan for retail bankers after eliminating product sales goals in October. But, she said, the bank has “more work ahead as we remain focused on strengthening our relationships with existing customers and building new ones with potential customers.”
In January, Wells Fargo reported a 47 percent drop in consumer credit card applications and a 31 percent drop in consumer checking account openings.
The credit card declines were larger than the 43 percent decrease reported in December versus December 2015. The drop in checking account openings was an improvement from the 40 percent year-over-year decrease in December.
Customer interactions with tellers and other bankers in branches slid 4 percent in January, though that was an improvement from December’s 6 percent year-over-year decline.
The bank also noted its customer-experience survey scores rose for the third month in a row. But those scores remain below year-ago levels.
Friday’s figures are the latest example of fallout the third-largest U.S. bank by assets continues to face in the wake of the scandal, which has led to congressional hearings, new federal probes and cost CEO John Stumpf his job.
Since the scandal, year-over-year declines each month in Wells’ rate of new account openings have raised questions about the bank’s ability to grow future revenues. Wells’ community banking unit, headed since last summer by Mack, generates the largest amount of net income among the company’s three business units.
The sagging activity comes despite Wells Fargo taking various steps to move past the ordeal. In a recent move, Wells announced last month the creation of an ethics office that will be headed by a Charlotte-based executive.
Deon Roberts: 704-358-5248, @DeonERoberts
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
