Massachusetts State Treasurer strikes Wells Fargo from list of approved underwriters
Massachusetts Treasurer Deb Goldberg has instructed her debt management deputies to immediately remove Wells Fargo from their approved list of underwriters for one year.
Four Massachusetts congressmen on Monday implored Goldberg to cut Treasury business ties with the bank. Congressman Stephen Lynch and three of his colleagues said in a letter that Wells Fargo is the trustee for a state deferred compensation plan and said "it appears that there are multiple relationships between the state and Wells Fargo."
The federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in September slapped the bank with a $100 million fine for "widespread unlawful sales practices." It was the largest fine ever issued by the agency, which said the bank would also pay an additional $35 million penalty to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and $50 million to the city and county of Los Angeles. Under fire for the bank's actions in the scandal, Wells Fargo chairman and CEO John Stumpf resigned this month.
According to the bureau, bank employees secretly opened accounts and shifted funds from consumers' accounts into the new accounts without their knowledge or permission. The bank also had compensation programs for employees that encouraged them to sign up existing clients for deposit accounts, credit cards and online banking without their knowledge.
Read more: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2016/10/mass_state_treasurer_strikes_wells_fargo_from_list_of_approved
