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#2 Background Information, History, Mission, and Vision Statement.

Wells Fargo & Company

American international banking and financial services holding company. Third-largest bank in the US by total assets ($1,930B).

The company has an entire website dedicated to their history (wellsfargohistory.com), which is definitely a differentiating element. The name Wells Fargo is forever linked with the image of a six-horse stagecoach thundering across the American West, loaded with gold. This shows they take the history of the company very serious and find that to move forward you have to be aware of your past and founding roots:
"...heritage continues as part of Wells Fargo’s identity today—in our values, with our service, and with our people."

Wells Fargo prides itself on its tradition of providing financial services by the fastest means available from the stagecoaches of the past to the Internet today. There are 12 Wells Fargo museums that the public can visit in Alaska, Charlotte, Des Moines, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento, Sandiego, and San Francisco. These museums host a variety of events throughout the year and educational events.Museums exhibits have a unique ability to bring the company history to life and offer a community experience unmatched by most other corporations.
On the company website states about its security and privacy, "For more than 160 years, Wells Fargo has been dedicated to account and information security, and our mission remains as strong as ever". This is what the company states on its website but it doesn't follow this in actual practice. Ethics and the mission and values are not taken seriously by employees and customers if what the company says and what is done in reality are different. The employees quickly learn through the "grapevine" how business is actually done and the general public loses trust not only in Wells Fargo but in banks and financial institutes across the industry. 

The company boasts that they have been focused on the security and privacy of their customers for 160 years but the recent criminal investigation against the company has proven they have created false customer accounts for 5 years straight by many of its bankers.

Wells Fargo vision is "We want to satisfy our customers' financial needs and help them succeed financially." They stated they've made steady progress to this goal but have still much to accomplish. Admitting to their customers that they realize they need to reevaluate what they truly stand for as a company is a good way to promising more ethical practices in the future and hopefully learning from past mistakes.

On the corporate values section, Wells Fargo emphasizes what the supposedly are focused on. It is important that the "walk the talk" regarding these aspects and focus on the idea that satisfied customers will ensure long term success and that ethics should be built into financial benchmarks:

Sources:
https://www.wellsfargo.com/about/corporate/vision-and-values/index
https://www.wellsfargohistory.com/
https://www.wellsfargo.com/about/corporate/vision-and-values/our-vision
http://fortune.com/2016/09/15/wells-fargo-scandal/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLm9c9rdrfQ

Comments

  1. AnonymousApril 23, 2017 at 6:17 PM

    Like you mentioned, this is definitely an example of a company having a set of written values for show, but not actually following them. How did the government punish Wells Fargo for this scandal if everyone was involved and not just top executives? If I was a customer, I'd be furious.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownApril 24, 2017 at 3:24 PM

      I think the way they figured out who set up the fake accounts was by the bankers log in information. The bankers had to log into using their employee ID to make any changes or to create accounts. I'm not sure how they could determine which executives should be punished.

      Many customers were very furious and yet others didn't notice until the scandal came out because there were very small amounts taken out. I guess perhaps if you have large amounts of money in your account you wouldn't be too alarmed to a few dollars being charged by bank fees.

      Delete
  2. AnonymousApril 24, 2017 at 11:20 AM

    160 years of account security seems a bit like an ideal now. Clearly a dysfunctional company when they state unrealistic values and goals but scandals like this often do arise BECAUSE those values are empty and not lived. They are basically now stating, where would we like to be in our dream? And its funny that their ethics already have ethics and related content built into their alleged history and values. Clear disconnect and hard to mend back.

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    Replies
    1. UnknownApril 24, 2017 at 3:36 PM

      I think the main issue may be that they are now too "big and bad" and feel that they no longer have to pay attention to the core of their business - the bankers. Another thing I think would be beneficial going forth is checking if goals are achievable by consulting a panel of the employees on a regular basis.

      The best thing to do is to bring in an external ethics committee and start following the ethics they supposedly stand for on their website.

      Delete
  3. Erin RApril 24, 2017 at 2:15 PM

    Did you look into the Wells Fargo reputation of the past? Is this issue of ethical scandal new to the company, or is it long embedded in their culture?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownApril 24, 2017 at 3:54 PM

      I have done a brief search of the past behavior of Wells Fargo and overall they have a pretty ethical history. Its so astonishing how widespread this issue was. I don't think this type of behavior is common. Maybe the reason they reacted so poorly when this scandal came out is from lack of experience in dealing with poor media and negative publicity.

      Delete
  4. UnknownApril 24, 2017 at 7:09 PM

    I just want to laugh at their mission and vision and values. I was literally reading this and being like "yea okay." For a company who values their heritage this is some basic level mission and vision. It really doesn't sound like they care about what they do and how they plan to behave. Funny how in their values ethics is second. If I was them, I would work on fixing their mission, vision and values. I would re-arrange those values starting with "what is right for the customer." How do you think they can expand on their values after this scandal?

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    Replies
    1. UnknownApril 24, 2017 at 7:15 PM

      I think the biggest thing is actually taking what they say on the company web page and living it. Sure its great to have all those things written now they have to actually DO! I agree the biggest thing they have to focus on is their customers in the investment industry trust is important concept. They broke one of the most important things that investors and customers want-to be able to trust the bank they use.

      Delete

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