The San Francisco-based bank said Thursday in a press release that a seven-year-old consent order issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has been terminated.
The remaining consent order with the Fed has been the most impactful on Wells, which has spent years trying to improve its regulatory compliance after a series of high-profile scandals. Because Wells has been
At least one analyst, Gerard Cassidy of RBC Capital Markets, continues to expect the asset cap to be terminated shortly. In a research note Thursday, Cassidy pointed not only to the bank's recent progress with regulators, but also to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's comments about wanting to loosen the "regulatory corset."
Wells CEO Charlie Scharf, who
Exiting the 2018 order would "lift the cloud that exists around Wells," he said.
"We've been limited in the way we can think about what we can do, both because of this cap, but also the work that's been required," Scharf said. "I mean, we have been so inwardly focused to get this work done that when … the orders get lifted, including when the asset cap gets lifted, it does give us more bandwidth to … focus on growth."
The 2015 consent order with the OCC had related to alleged violations of the part of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act that relates to the consolidation and management of subsidiaries. Wells was allegedly not compliant with a stipulation that "the national bank and each depository institutions affiliate of the national bank are well capitalized and well managed."
The bank's agreement with the OCC barred Wells from acquiring any new financial subsidiary.
The latest termination of a consent order comes about a month after Wells was freed from another 2018 order. That action by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau stemmed from the bank's alleged violations of consumer-lending rules in connection with a mandatory insurance program for auto loans, as well as in its processes for charging certain borrowers for mortgage interest rate-lock extensions. The bank agreed to pay a $1 billion penalty.
Cassidy said the latest termination is "positive" for Wells, demonstrating "progress …working with the company's regulators to satisfy outstanding issues and reinforce the company's risk and control framework."
There has been some pushback on lifting the asset cap. In late 2024, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said in a letter to Fed Chairman Jerome Powell that the cap should stay in place until the bank "can show that it can properly manage the risks associated with running a large bank."
In April, the Committee for Better Banks, which is working to
In the megabank's latest sign of progress with regulators, it said that a 7-year-old CFPB order has been terminated.
Even if the asset cap is soon lifted, Wells won't be entirely out of regulators' crosshairs. In September,
The OCC said it would require Wells to take "comprehensive corrective actions" to ensure that it's reporting suspicious activity. The enforcement action did not include the announcement of a monetary penalty.
