Professional Review On Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo and Company is an international financial services company. Its headquarters is located in San Francisco, California, in the United States with other central offices spread throughout the states.
It ranked as the world's fourth-largest bank by market capitalization and still the fourth largest bank in the United States by total assets. In total revenue, the company is ranked number 28 in the list of the largest US corporations as of Fortune 500 rankings in 2018.
History
Wells Fargo was founded on March 18, 1852, by Henry Wells and William Fargo in San Francisco, California, US.
In July 2015, the firm rose to become the world’s largest bank by market capitalization defeating ICBC.
In September 2016, the company fell behind JPMorgan Chase after a scandal that involved the creation of more than 2 million fake bank accounts by its employees.
Again the firm fell behind Bank of America by bank deposits before later falling behind Citigroup to become fourth by total assets.
Services and Operations
The company mainly offers three business sections which include:
i. Community banking
The Community Banking section includes Diversified Products, Consumer Deposit Groups, Regional Banking, and Wells Fargo Customer Connection. The firm also has about 2,000 stand-alone home mortgage branches spread across the country.
ii. Consumer lending
Wells Fargo Home Mortgage was the largest retail mortgage lender in the United States as of 2011. The corporation services about 1.8 trillion US dollars in home mortgages making it be the second-largest servicing portfolio in the US.
iii. Private student loans
They offer student loans to enable students to pay for their college expenses like books, tuition, housing or even computers. The loans are available for graduate schools, law school, medical school, undergraduates, career and community colleges. They also provide private student loan consolidation and student loans for parents.
iv. Equipment lending
The corporation has various segments that finance and lease equipment to different types of companies.
v. Wealth and Investment Management
They offer investment services through their subsidiaries, Wells Fargo Advisor, LLC and Wells Fargo Investments, LLC. They also use national dealer/ broker firms. The company also serves individuals of high net-worth through its private bank and family wealth group.
vi. Asset Management
vii. Securities
viii. Cross-selling
This is the key business strategy that Wells Fargo uses. It is the practice of encouraging existing customers to purchase additional banking products.
ix. International operations
The company provides banking services throughout the world with offices in London, Dubai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Toronto, and Singapore. They also operate back-offices in India and the Philippines with over 3,000 employees.
Corporate Affairs
The company is headed by the following key people: Elizabeth Duke, Chairlady, Charles Scarf (President and CEO), John R. Shrewsberry (CFO) and C. Allen Parker (General Counsel).
As by 2018 report, the company is estimated to have a total revenue of about US $86.40 billion, an operating income of about US $30.28 billion, and total equity of US $197.06 billion. Its total assets are estimated to be worth US$1.895 trillion.
It is owned by Berkshire Hathaway who holds up to 10% of its revenue. The company has about 70 million members being served by its 258,700 employees.
The Bottom Line
Wells Fargo is a company that continues to grow and serve its customers with better services every year. Though many negative issues have arisen from the company like the scandal mentioned above, it continues to shine in the banking and financing industry.
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wells_Fargo
https://www.wellsfargo.com/biz/retirement/401k-plan/