When Will It End?

Wells Fargo has determined that its employees had created an additional 1.4 million fraudulent accounts. It has been a year since the scandal broke and there is seemingly no end to it. The bank’s reputation lies in ruins and its recent disclosures are like kicking a dog while it is down. One must ask how the bank was running so amuck and the only possible answer is inattention by its leaders and a breakdown in operations. Wells Fargo was not close to the bank people thought it was. It now has to live down its image for years to come. Every new slip-up at the institution will garner headlines and another assault on its reputation. Banking runs on trust and Wells Fargo violated it fundamentally. Should the company lose customers as a result of this prolonged scandal, that is as it should be. It is too big to go out of business as a result of these disclosures, but it could well shrink, which would be the least punishment it deserves.