Wells Fargo didn't limit its fraud to robbing 2,000,000 ordinary depositors, struggling mortgage borrowers, 800,000 car loan borrowers, mom and pop businesses, and home owners — the bank's top foreign-exchange desk bankers robbed hundreds of the company's large business customers, in a move that inflated the Fargo execs' annual bonuses.
The forex bankers charged commissions of 1% to 4% (the industry standard is 0.15% to 0.5%) — but they also lied to their customers about this commission, promising lower rates, then creaming off massive commissions and hoping their customers would never check their math.
When they got caught, they blamed the discrepancies on "time fluctuations."
Foreign-exchange bankers received bonuses that were only based on the amount of money they brought into the bank, a marked difference from how other financial institutions calculate them. Wells Fargo told The Wall Street Journal that it changed the compensation make-up earlier this year.
Wells Fargo overcharged hundreds of customers in pursuit of bonuses: report
[Jacqueline Thomsen/The Hill]
(via Naked Capitalism)
(Image: epSos.de, CC-BY)
