Brian McKay MBA
CEO / President zenruption.com
President PETiO DOOR INC (petiodoor.com)
June 15, 2017
Shareholders and Board of Directors of Wells Fargo NA;
Last August 8th, 2016 I penned an open resignation letter that went viral. It was correct in its label of the Wells Fargo company culture, excessive sales goals and lies of product solutions spun to shareholders. That the bank informed employees across the company that I was to be sued by the bank right before the announcement of findings by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), showed the culture of institutional psychosis I had previously detailed. Once again, over 200,000 employees and potential customers will be privy to an open letter through social media. It is my hope that this time the right people listen.
It seems the mental cure for the institutional psychosis is failing and additional counseling is needed for Wells Fargo to be the company it claims and to provide long-term value to its shareholders. This letter is purposely not addressed to the corporate executives as the intervention needs to come from those that can sit them down and say, ‘It’s time to get help both for you and for those of us that care about you.”
After the scandal, announced September 8th, 2016, Wells Fargo stock dropped to a low of 43.55. It currently trades in the low 50’s, with today’s close of 53.90. It had traded as high as 59.99 under the pretense of greed that has inflated all bank stocks. That such a high was achieved after a scandal of the magnitude of Wells Fargo’s, is an aberration and an exhibition of current market greed and irrationality. Markets have merely priced in the potential removal of banking reform under Dodd-Frank and the deliberate weakening of the CFPB. It’s all artificial.
The bank maintains the same culture that it claimed to reform. As a standing member of the Committee for Better Banks, I am frequently apprised as to the continuing extreme sales pressure, now just done in more covert ways than a company plan. Wells Fargo employees are part of monthly Wells Fargo calls and bi-weekly group calls to help with stress. Even employees of departments other than sales have detailed toxic environments and malicious management. Nothing has changed.
Scandals are still arising. Today’s allegations of improper mortgage practices once again threaten to besmirch the name of the bank. These scandals have shown quarter over quarter declines in openings of deposit and credit accounts. The bank has managed to offset lost revenue so far through further mistreatment of its employees and layoffs. Currently, one third of Wells Fargo tellers require public assistance to survive.
Recently, Wells Fargo has reportedly cut severance packages from three weeks for every year worked to two weeks for every year worked. That this was done before a large round of layoffs, is no surprise.
The company continues to take advantage of its employees, with a lack of ethics and behave with craven greed. We all know where greed eventually takes a company and it isn’t a happy place. The shareholders and board members all have their names attached to this organization. It is my hope that you wish them attached to an organization of high regard and ethical practices.
As a former employee, I can guarantee you that there were far more than 2 million fake accounts, that the corporate psychosis remains and that employees have continued to see subpar working conditions along with extraordinary stress. This stress bleeds into their personal lives and impacts their families. They are demoralized and they are becoming angry.
This is the counseling. Now it is time for a behavioral shift and the medicine to end the culture of corporate psychosis. If it doesn’t change, Wells Fargo will continue to see lower account openings as people such as myself push for responsible banking. Wells Fargo will also see a push toward an organized labor force that the bank itself is currently facilitating through its treatment of its employees. Santander managed to push its US employees to the point of starting to organize, which the Committee for Better Banks and I have helped support. Wells Fargo is now well down that road as well.
As a member of the Committee for Better Banks, an additional voice to speak to these issues needs to be on the Wells Fargo Board of Directors. I request, and recommend, that a member of the Committee for Better Banks be added to the board both for the benefit of the employees and shareholders of the bank.
Corporate psychosis can be fixed, new scandals can be averted and Wells Fargo can regain its reputation through appropriate action. I look forward to a day when I no longer must write such letters and that true progress is achieved.
Responses to this open letter may be sent to me at [email protected]. They will be published and advertised on social media, along with all our other articles. Also, please feel free comment on this post, share it through social media and make people aware.
Regards,
Brian McKay MBA
CEO / President zenruption.com
President PETiO DOOR INC (petiodoor.com)