September 14, 2021

New York Times: Elizabeth Warren Asks the Fed to Break Up Wells Fargo

Senator Elizabeth Warren says Wells Fargo has run out of time to fix the many internal problems that have harmed its customers.

In a letter to the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome H. Powell, on Monday, Ms. Warren asked the Fed to force the financial giant to break off its core banking activities, like offering checking and savings accounts and loans, from its other financial services.

Divorcing Wall Street-centric work — which can include managing investment funds and providing financial market sales and trading services — from the bank would ensure that Wells Fargo’s everyday customers did not continue to suffer, Ms. Warren wrote. The Fed could accomplish this, she explained, by revoking Wells Fargo’s financial holding company license — essentially making it impossible for the company to operate any nonbanking businesses.

“Continuing to allow this giant bank with a broken culture to conduct business in its current form poses substantial risks to consumers and the financial system,” she wrote.

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Read the full story here.


By:  Emily Flitter
Source: New York Times