Making Amends

Tim Sloan, CEO of Wells Fargo, addressed his team members Tuesday on the measures they're taking to amend the harms done by the bank's practice of opening unauthorized accounts.

According to Sloan, they are focusing on two key areas: identifying those who may have experienced financial harm and addressing that harm: “A principle guiding our work to identify potential harm was to err on the side of our customers,” Sloan said. “This is important because the analysis is data-driven and looks at usage patterns in accounts.”

Authorized account usage sometimes mirrors that of unauthorized accounts, which is why Wells Fargo identified accounts that were potentially unauthorized and, in those cases, sided with the customer. In a matter of weeks, Wells Fargo will announce the completion of their remediation process and the effected accounts will be refunded.

However, Sloan said though they will complete the review of accounts by a third party, their remediation efforts will continue. “Our outreach to tens of millions of customers has been an important part of our efforts, as is our class-action settlement, which covers customer concerns dating back to 2002.”

When this secondary review process is complete, Wells Fargo will then work to make sure all stakeholders—customers, investors, community and government leaders, regulators, and their team members—are informed of its efforts so they can begin to rebuild their commitment of trust. Sloan explained that customer issues revealing themselves in news headlines is only a reflection of the results of their work, which they try to do as transparently as possible.

“While we have more to do, I’m confident our reviews have been thorough and we’re taking the steps necessary to transform our operations,” Sloan said. “What’s more, we are demonstrating that if customers encounter a challenge working with us today, we are taking action to address their concerns.”

To see Sloan’s full statement, click here.