Wells Fargo Reputation Drops Sharply Amid Fake Account Scandal
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – Just weeks after Wells Fargo admitted opening up millions of unauthorized accounts, which led to the CEO's resignation, a new survey found a significant number of customers plan to leave the San Francisco-based financial institution.
According to CNN Money, management consulting company cg42 surveyed 1,000 Wells Fargo customers and 500 customers of the other top 10 banks. They found 52 percent have a negative impression of the bank, up from 15 percent before news of the scandal broke.
Only 24 percent of respondents viewed Wells Fargo positively, down from 60 percent, cg42 found.
Among Wells Fargo customers, 30 percent of customers in the survey are considering leaving the bank, while 14 percent said they would move their business elsewhere. Only three percent of those surveyed said they were directly impacted by the scandal.
"The breach of trust the scandal created has fundamentally changed the way that they think about their institution, the way they think about the bank," cg42 founder Steve Beck told CNBC.
Wells Fargo is at risk of losing $99 billion in deposits and $4 billion in revenue, the firm said.
In September, Wells Fargo agreed to pay $185 million to authorities over the unauthorized accounts. On October 12th, bank CEO John Stumpf resigned.
Last week, California Attorney General Kamala Harris announced her office has launched a criminal investigation into Wells Fargo.
Meanwhile, the State of California and Santa Clara County announced they would pull business from the bank, with other governments considering similar moves.
