The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency terminated a 2018 consent order related to Wells Fargo’s compliance risk management program, the bank confirmed Thursday.
The order is the 10th that Wells Fargo’s regulators have ended since 2019, the bank said.
“We are pleased that the OCC has validated the work required in the 2018 compliance consent order and has terminated the enforcement action,” Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf said in a statement. “This development, along with the termination of three other consent orders in the last three weeks and the termination by the OCC of the 2016 sales practices consent order last year, is a huge accomplishment for the many thousands of people at Wells Fargo who have worked tirelessly to transform the company.”
Wells Fargo has four remaining consent orders: one from the Federal Reserve, one from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and two from the OCC, a spokesperson for the bank confirmed to Banking Dive.
The OCC's newly terminated consent order, issued in April 2018, found flaws in Wells Fargo's compliance risk management program that amounted to reckless, unsafe or unsound practices and violations of the unfair acts or practices provision in Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. The order involved a $500 million civil penalty against the lender and required Wells Fargo to make restitution to affected customers.
The OCC's action was closely coordinated with the CFPB, which separately assessed a $1 billion penalty. The order noted that the OCC's $500 million would be credited toward the CFPB's $1 billion fine.
A Wells Fargo spokesperson said the $1 billion fine was paid in 2018, with adjustments made in the first quarter of that year.
However, three years later, the OCC fined Wells Fargo $250 million for not meeting the requirements of the 2018 consent order. The OCC additionally restricted the lender’s future activities until the existing problems in mortgage servicing were addressed.
Earlier this month, the Fed terminated two Wells consent orders dating to 2011: one involving the bank’s mortgage servicing activities and the other centered around its legacy Wells Fargo Financial business.
The Fed’s terminations came shortly after the CFPB dropped a 2022 consent order related to Wells’ automobile and mortgage lending and consumer deposit accounts.
“We are a different company today than when the new management team arrived. We remain focused and confident in our ability to complete the work required in our remaining consent orders, while building one of the most respected financial institutions in the country,” Scharf said in a statement Friday.
The termination of several Wells consent orders sparks questions of how much longer the Fed will keep a $1.95 trillion asset cap on the bank, stemming from the lender’s fake-accounts scandal. People familiar with the matter told Reuters in November the cap could be lifted as early as the first half of this year. However, the bank spokesperson declined to comment on the asset cap.
