Wells Fargo Unauthorized Account Openings: A Case Study for Bank Board Directors

The case study draws primarily from the 113 page report of the Wells Fargo board’s independent investigation of retail banking sales practices. The case study also relies on the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s report titled: Lessons Learned Review Of Supervision Of Sales Practices At Wells Fargo. Additional details are sourced from various Wells Fargo regulatory reports. The case study is intended to be used as a resource for directors at banks and financial services institutions of all sizes, so that they may learn from, and hopefully avoid, mistakes that were made over many years throughout Wells Fargo’s corporate hierarchy. All errors are our own.