Wells Fargo Insights

Industry recruiters say offers of shares in advisory firms are hard to value.

The company is paying $75 million in penalties and restitution in connection with SEC allegations that its investment advisory arm overcharged customers it inherited in its Wachovia acquisition in 2008. The settlement is said to show the importance of conducting extensive compliance checks in a rapidly consolidating industry.

The banking industry appears to be stuck when it comes to diversifying the leadership ranks.

The bank's delay in investigating the case forced the plaintiff to resign from the bank in July 2021, according to the complaint. Wells said that it takes allegations of misconduct "very seriously."

Rohit Chopra, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said the bank is "not making rapid progress" and hinted at the possibility of additional restrictions. But analysts saw positives for Wells in the $3.7 billion consent order.

A blueprint for a shared ledger for digital money would include central bank digital currencies, bank deposits and e-money from companies like PayPal — but not unsupervised cryptocurrencies.

An independent investigation found no evidence of a pact with Wells Fargo’s attorney but omitted mention of the other big questions emanating from the case.

The firms respectively settled the regulator’s allegations about suspicious activity reports and the duty of best execution — two major areas of emphasis.

In an earnings call Tuesday, CEO Charlie Scharf credited brokers in the firm's branches for working with consumer bankers for a 10% increase in new assets.

In separate cases, two federal judges found that neither Wells Fargo nor LPL had a fiduciary obligation to look for clients' best interests with uninvested cash held in brokerage accounts.

A FINRA arbitration panel's decision marked a rare rebuke for a large wealth manager seeking to reclaim money it provided an advisor recruited from a rival.

Now at Wells Fargo, Matthew McCrea is accused of violating a nonsolicitation agreement he signed at JPMorgan. The suit echoes allegations JPMorgan made days earlier against a broker now at Morgan Stanley.

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon joined JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon in a tie atop the executive compensation rankings for the industry's largest publicly traded firms.