Wells Fargo 401(k) plan now under review by federal agencies, bank says
The U.S. Labor Department is looking into Wells Fargo’s 401(k) plan, according to a disclosure by the bank in a late Tuesday financial filing.
The department, along with other federal agencies, is reviewing transactions connected to the employee stock ownership portion of the 401(k) retirement account.
The agencies are looking into the way the 401(k) plan purchased certain securities used in connection with company contributions, according to the filing.
No other information about the review was in the bank’s disclosure.
Wells Fargo is based in San Francisco and employs more than 260,000 people, but has its largest employment hub here in Charlotte, with about 27,000 local workers.
It also has more square footage here than in any other one market across the country, occupying 6.5 million square feet of property in the Charlotte area, according to its annual report.
The bank said on Wednesday it did not have comment to provide beyond the information included in the filing.
The disclosure was included in the legal actions section of the bank’s 2021 annual report to shareholders.
Federal scrutiny of Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo has faced sharp scrutiny from federal regulators since its fake accounts scandal in 2016, when it came to light that employees opened millions of savings and checking accounts without customers’ approval.
The bank is still operating under a number of consent orders from various agencies regarding its financial activities, the most significant being a Federal Reserve-imposed asset cap that prohibits the bank from growing its balance sheet.
In a fourth quarter earnings call on Jan. 14, CEO Charlie Scharf told investors that the bank’s regulatory struggles are complex and might involve setbacks along the way — but that the bank is headed in the right direction to come out from under the spotlight.
“I continue to believe that we’re making significant progress, and this is based on what we see in our internal reporting,” Scharf said. “It doesn’t mean that we’re perfect.”
This story was originally published February 23, 2022 at 11:05 AM.
