Thursday dawned bright and early with news that Wells Fargo, one of the big names in banking, has found over a million fake accounts. These accounts run close to 1.4 million, 67% more than what the bank originally thought.
The grand total now comes out to about 3.5 million fake accounts. This means that Wells Fargo employees have been “opening unauthorized credit card and bank accounts” a lot longer than the bank knew or acknowledged.
This new piece of information puts the mega bank’s efforts to leave the past in the past on hold. It’ a significant figure to see on paper, and the implications for the scandal that has been news for almost a year are huge.
Both lawmakers and regulators say they will look into the case, probing the inner workings of Wells Fargo and work to make some possibly big changes.
“We apologize to everyone who was harmed by unacceptable sales practices,” Wells Fargo chief executive Tim Sloan said. ““We are working hard to ensure this never happens again and to build a better bank for the future.”
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) fined Wells Fargo $100 million after the bank admitted to the fake accounts last September. With the new information, Democrats are hoping to sheild the CFPB from Republicans.
But according to The Washington Post, this figure could still fall short of actual numbers. This latest figure comes after Wells Fargo examined internal data going back to 2009. Original examiniations only went back to 2011. The bank says it will not go back further than that, however, saying the “data is just not as available or as high-quality.”
“We’ve cast a wide net to reach customers and address their remaining concerns,” Sloan said.
Wells Fargo has also fallen under scrutiny for oter scandals, including 570,000 customers being charged for unwanted auto insurance.
Analysts say the bank may only lose some of its scandalous history with the help of political capital. Jaret Seiberg, an analyst with Cowen, suggested Hurricane Harvey relief efforts as a possibility.
Wells Fargo is now expected to pay $6 million in customer refunds, which is double the initial estimate.
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