- Charlie Gasparino is reporting those close to Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) John Stumpf as saying his job is in jeopardy over the account opening scandal.
- With pressure mounting and two congressional appearances set for the next couple of weeks for Stumpf and team, a vote of confidence from Warren Buffett (BRK.A, BRK.B) might be in order, but The Oracle has been curiously silent for now.
- A new story from the WSJ's Emily Glazer describes conditions at Wells Fargo branches in which tremendous pressure was put on employees to meet sales targets for the bank which championed itself as king of the cross-sell.
- Managers suggested workers hunt for prospects at bus stops and retirement homes, and branch bosses are described as constantly monitoring progress towards sales goals, sometimes hourly. Numbers at the branch level were reported to higher-ranking mangers as many as seven times a day.
- In Tucson, a common tactic was to tell wealthier, existing customers that the bank was going to send them a new credit card as a "thank you" for their business. If the customer didn't want the card, they could cut it up, but in the meantime, credit was pulled, which could ding the customer's credit score.
- Shares are down another 1.6% today, again underperforming Wells' big bank peers.