wells fargo bankwells fargo bank Wells Fargo & Co. is a diversified financial services company with operations around the world. Wells Fargo is the fourth largest bank in the US by assets and the third largest bank by market cap. Wells Fargo is the second largest bank in deposits, home mortgage servicing, and debit card. In 2007 it was the only bank in the United States to be rated AAA by S&P , though its rating has since been lowered to AA- in light of the 2008 Financial Crisis. Headquartered in San Francisco, California (its bank, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., is legally chartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota), Wells Fargo is a result of an acquisition of California-based Wells Fargo & Co. by Minneapolis-based Norwest Corporation in 1998. The new company chose to keep the name Wells Fargo, to capitalize on the 150-year history of the nationally-recognized Wells Fargo name and its trademark stagecoach. After the merger, the company maintained its headquarters in San Francisco and charter in Sioux Falls. As of 2009, Wells Fargo has 6,650 retail branches (called stores by Wells Fargo), 12,260 automated teller machines, 276,000 employees and over 48 million customers. Wells Fargo currently operates stores and ATMs under the Wells Fargo and Wachovia names. Wells Fargo was named as "The World's Safest US Bank" based on long-term foreign currency ratings from Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor's and the long-term bank deposit ratings from Moodys Investors Service for the year 2007. Wells Fargo is one of the Big Four Banks of the United States with Bank of America, Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase. | ![]() | |
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Lines of business
Wells Fargo offers a range of financial services in over 80
different business lines. Wells Fargo delineates three different business segments
when reporting results: Retail Banking, Wholesale Banking, and Consumer Finance.
Community banking
The Community Banking segment includes Regional Banking, Wealth Management Group, Diversified Products and the Consumer Deposits groups.
Wells
Fargo also has around 9,400 stand alone mortgage branches throughout the country.
It also does mortgage wholesale lending through independent mortgage brokers.
Wells
Fargo in Laredo, Texas, is located near Mall Del Norte.
Brokerage
Wells
Fargo offers investment products through its subsidiaries, Wells Fargo Investments,
LLC and Wells Fargo Advisors (previously known as Wachovia Securities). It also
offers mutual funds under the Wells Fargo Advantage brand name and Evergreen Funds.
Calibre
Calibre is a subsidiary that Wells Fargo currently uses for its
wealth management services to ultra-high net worth families with net worth exceeding
$25 million. Calibre was acquired as part of the purchase of Wachovia.
Internet
services
Wells Fargo launched its personal computer banking service in 1989 and was the first bank to introduce access to banking accounts on the web in May 1995.
Wells Fargo's Business Online Banking gives small business owners all the services available to consumers, plus services designed specifically for businesses.
The new Wells Fargo vSafe service offers online storage of documents.
Wholesale
The Wholesale Banking segment contains products sold to large
and middle market commercial companies, as well as to consumers on a wholesale
basis. This includes lending, treasury management, mutual funds, asset-based lending,
commercial real estate,corporate and institutional trust services, and investment
banking through Wells Fargo Securities. The company also owns Barington Associates,
a middle market investment bank. Wells Fargo historically has avoided large corporate
loans as stand-alone products, instead requiring that borrowers purchase other
products along with loanswhich the bank sees as a loss leader. One area
that is very profitable to Wells, however, is asset-based lending: lending to
large companies using assets as collateral that are not normally used in other
loans. This can be compared to subprime lending, but on a corporate level. The
main brand name for this activity is "Wells Fargo Foothill," and is
regularly marketed in tombstone ads in the Wall Street Journal. Wells Fargo also
owns Eastdil Secured, which is described as a "real estate investment bank"
but is essentially one of the largest commercial real estate brokers for very
large transactions (such as the purchase and sale of large Class-A office buildings
in central business districts throughout the United States).
Consumer finance
Wells
Fargo Financial is the consumer finance segment. It engages in lending through
over 1,000 branches throughout the U.S. and in certain other countries. This division
also engages in "indirect lending" for such organizations as furniture
retailers. This business is based out of Des Moines, Iowa. Norwest purchased DIAL
Finance before its acquisition with Wells Fargo. The Home Mortgage group is based
out of West Des Moines, Iowa.
Business model
A map of states where Wells
Fargo operates retail banks under the Wells Fargo and Wachovia names
The present business model of Wells Fargo is summed up in its vision statement: "We want to satisfy all of our customers' financial needs, help them succeed financially, be the premier provider of financial services in every one of our markets, and be known as one of America's great companies."
Wells Fargo's goal is to encourage its customers to buy all their financial products through Wells Fargo: "We want to earn 100 percent of our customers' business. The more products customers have with Wells Fargo the better deal they get, the more loyal they are, and the longer they stay with the company, improving retention. Eighty percent of our revenue growth comes from selling more products to existing customers. Our goal: sell at least eight products to every customer."
This is a concept known as "cross-selling," or as Wells Fargo refers to it, "needs-based selling," which is popular in the financial services industry. While earlier companies, such as Prudential, pioneered the concept of selling a variety of products, they acted merely as holding companies and each product was sold through its own distribution channel. However, predecessor Norwest pioneered selling all its products through all its channels, with discounts given to those who purchase a larger variety.
The average "cross-sell ratio"
for a financial institution is two (based on an average American consumer owning
sixteen different financial products from eight different institutions). Wells
Fargo purports to have a cross-sell ratio of 5.5 (2007 data) products per Community
Banking household (almost one in five have more than eight), 6.1 (2007 data) for
Wholesale Banking customers, and the average middle-market commercial banking
customer has more than seven products, which is among the highest in the country.
(Washington Mutual was beating them at the end of 2003 with a 5.59 ratio. )
Global Presence
Wells Fargo has a presence in India as well. Wells Fargo
India Solutions (WFIS) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Wells Fargo. WFIS is an
extended arm of the organization created to support the needs for expansion in
technology and business processes. Set up in September 2006 in Hyderabad, India,
it is already operating out of two facilities in the city and has people strength
of over 850. Its two Offices are located at Raheja MindSpace, Hitech City, and
Maytas Hill County SEZ, Bachupally respectively.
History
History of Wells
Fargo
The current Wells Fargo is a result of a 1998 merger between Minneapolis-based
Norwest Corporation and the original Wells Fargo.[16] Although Norwest was the
nominal survivor, the new company kept the Wells Fargo name to capitalize on the
long history of the nationally-recognized Wells Fargo name and its trademark stagecoach
(the company's slogan, "The Next Stage," is a nod to the company's wagons-west
motif). After the acquisition, the parent company moved its headquarters to San
Francisco.
Wachovia acquisition superseding plans by Citigroup
On October 3, 2008, Wachovia agreed to be bought by Wells Fargo for about $14.8B in an all stock transaction. This news came four days after the FDIC made moves to have Citigroup buy Wachovia for $2.1B. Citigroup protested Wachovia's agreement to sell itself to Wells Fargo and threatened legal action over the matter. However, the deal with Wells Fargo is expected to overwhelmingly win shareholder approval as it values Wachovia at about 7 times what the Citigroup deal valued Wachovia. To further ensure shareholder approval, Wachovia issued Wells Fargo with preferred stock that holds 39.9% of the voting power in the company. On October 4, 2008, a New York state judge issued a temporary injunction blocking the transaction from going forward while the situation was sorted out. Citigroup alleges that they had an exclusivity agreement with Wachovia that barred Wachovia from negotiating with other potential buyers. The injunction was overturned late in the evening on October 5, 2008, by New York state appeals court.
Citigroup and Wells
Fargo had entered into negotiations brokered by the FDIC to reach an amicable
solution to the impasse. Those negotiations failed, however. Sources say that
Citigroup was unwilling to take on more risk than the $42B that would have been
the cap under the previous FDIC-backed deal (with the FDIC incurring all losses
over $42B). While Citigroup was no longer attempting to block the merger, they
indicated they will seek damages of $60B for breach of an alleged exclusivity
agreement with Wachovia.
Corporate predecessors
The holding company was previously known as Norwest Corporation and before that as Northwestern National Bank (BANCO). Norwest was "one of the most acquisitive banks of the 1990s...." Most of the management and the business model of the present day Wells Fargo come from Norwest Bank, and the stock history of Wells Fargo is that of Norwest.
Selected predecessor companies
* Crocker National Bank
* First Interstate Bancorp
* Norwest Corporation
* Wachovia Corporation
2008 Financial Crisis
On
October 28, 2008, Wells Fargo and Company was the recipient of $25B of the Emergency
Economic Stabilization Act Federal bail-out in the form of a preferred stock purchase.
Recent tests by the Federal government revealed that Wells Fargo needs an additional
13.7 billion dollars in order to remain well captialized if the economy were to
deteriorate further under stress test scenarios. On May 11, 2009 Wells Fargo announced
an additional stock offering which was completed on May 13, 2009 raising $8.6
billion in capital. The remaining $4.9 billion in capital is planned to be raised
through earnings.
Key dates
* 1852: Henry Wells and William G. Fargo,
the two founders of American Express, form Wells Fargo & Company to provide
express and banking services to California.
* 1860: Wells Fargo gains control
of Butterfield Overland Mail Company, leading to operation of the western portion
of the Pony Express.
* 1866: 'Grand consolidation' unites Wells Fargo, Holladay,
and Overland Mail stage lines under the Wells Fargo name.
* 1904: A.P. Giannini
creates the Bank of Italy in San Francisco.
* 1905: Wells Fargo separates
its banking and express operations; Wells Fargo's bank is merged with the Nevada
National Bank to form the Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank.
* 1918: As a wartime
measure, the U.S. government nationalizes Wells Fargo's express franchise into
a government agency known as the American Railway Express Agency. The government
takes control of the express company. The bank begins rebuilding but with a focus
on commercial markets.
* 1923: Wells Fargo Nevada merges with the Union Trust
Company to form the Wells Fargo Bank & Union Trust Company.
* 1928: Giannini
forms Transamerica Corporation as a holding company for his banking and other
interests.
* 1929: Northwest Bancorporation, or Banco, is formed as a banking
association.
* 1954: Wells shortens its name to Wells Fargo Bank.
* 1957:
Transamerica spins off its banking operations, including 23 banks in 11 western
states, as Firstamerica Corporation.
* 1960: Wells Fargo merges with American
Trust Company to form the Wells Fargo Bank American Trust Company.
* 1961:
Firstamerica changes its name to Western Bancorporation.
* 1962: Wells again
shortens its name to Wells Fargo Bank.
* 1968: Wells converts to a federal
banking charter, becoming Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.
* 1969: Wells Fargo &
Company holding company is formed, with Wells Fargo Bank as its main subsidiary.
* 1981: Western Bancorporation changes its name to First Interstate Bancorp.
* 1982: Banco acquires consumer finance firm Dial Finance which is renamed Norwest
Financial Service the following year.
* 1983: Banco is renamed Norwest Corporation.
* 1983: Largest U.S. bank heist to date takes place at a Wells Fargo depot in
West Hartford, Connecticut.
* 1986: Wells Fargo acquires Crocker National
Corporation from Midland Bank.
* 1987: Wells Fargo acquires the personal trust
business of Bank of America.
* 1988: Wells Fargo acquires Barclays Bank of
California from Barclays plc.
* 1995: Wells Fargo becomes the first major
financial services firm to offer Internet banking.
* 1996: Wells Fargo acquires
First Interstate for $17.3 billion.
* 1998: Wells Fargo Bank merges with Norwest
Corp. of Minneapolis. Norwest changes its name to Wells Fargo and moves to San
Francisco.
* 2000: Wells Fargo acquires First Security Corporation.
*
2001: Wells Fargo acquires H.D. Vest Financial Services.
* 2007: Wells Fargo
acquires CIT Construction.
* 2007: Wells Fargo acquires Placer Sierra Bank.
* 2007: Wells Fargo acquires Greater Bay Bancorp.
* 2008: Wells Fargo acquires
Century Bank.
* 2008: Wells Fargo acquires Wachovia Corporation.
* 2009:
Wells Fargo acquires North Coast Surety Insurance Services
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