Quick FactsPhone Number: 1-800-869-3557 Assets Managed: $547.69 Billion Headquarters: Sioux Falls, SD Date Established: January 1st, 1870 | Wells Fargo Bank Profile Information:Bank Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States. [Chartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota]
Stock Symbol: Public, NYSE: WFC
CEO: John G. Stumpf
Wells Fargo Bank is one of the big four American banks which has a diversified financial portfolio providing services such as retail, commercial and corporate banking. With a total number of 48 million customers, 6,650 retail branches, and 12,260 automated teller machines, Wells Fargo has a long reach across the United States of America as vast as their ambition back in the 1850’s and 60’s when they expanded into the Overland Mail Services.
Wells Fargo’s 6,650 branch locations are spread over the country in a total of 39 states meaning that customers of the bank do not have to travel too far to find a branch. The geographical spread of the bank’s presence can be seen in all corners of the country and throughout all states in the Western United States, however the bank is not present from the mid Eastern States in the central United States. Wells Fargo’s diverse banking scope allows customers of every financial need to utilise their service, however Wells Fargo is mainly focussed towards wholesale banking. This includes most of the ownership interest for the Wells Fargo HSBC Trade Bank which provides collection services, and trade related financing and letters of credit.
The financial service department of the bank named Wells Fargo Financial engages in lending through over 1,000 branches throughout the U.S and is based in Des Moines, Iowa.
For personal banking, Wells Fargo is an innovator for the use of modern technologies to make banking easier. Wells Fargo was the first bank to introduce access to banking accounts on the web in May 1995. Since that time personal customers have had the convenience of banking at home. This move follows the banks historical principles of moving forward and encapsulates the businesses slogan which is “The Next Stage”, which again refers to the company’s old West background.
For mortgage based banking Wells Fargo has 9,400 stand alone mortgage branches throughout the country. It also does mortgage wholesale lending through independents on top of its 6,650 personal banking branches. This is one of the reasons it has been so successful. Recently the bank has spread offshore to India in the form of Wells Fargo India Solutions.
The business model of Wells Fargo is “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.” This business model shows that the bank is dedicated to the end user’s (customers) needs and for the development of financial success for the users of the banks services. The move to become the premier provider of financial services took another step towards reality on October 3, 2008 when the Wells Fargo group took over Wachovia which widened Wells Fargo’s global reach with an extra 40 subsidiary offices around the world.
In monetary terms, the bank took in US$52.38 billion in 2008 with a net income of US$8.49 billion. As part of the 2008 Economic Stabilization Act, the Federal Government gave Wells Fargo $25B in the form of a preferred stock purchase; however it was recently shown that Wells Fargo needs another $13.7 in order to remain capitalised.
As far as an environmentally friendly bank goes, Wells Fargo is right up there having received awards for environment in Green Power Leadership Club. In line with its goals towards the environments, the bank purchased renewable energy certificates to support the generation of clean kilowatt hours through renewable energy. Wells Fargo is in the top 25 of Green Power Partnership. In line with its commitment to the environment, Wells Fargo purchases renewable energy certificates (RECs) to support the generation of 550 million kilowatt-hours of clean, renewable wind energy per year.
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