CEO Passes Reins at Wells Fargo

Shareholding activists demand end to foreclosures

(NEWSER) - Some 15 shareholders were arrested for disrupting Wells Fargo's annual shareholder meeting in San Francisco yesterday. The protesters—allowed in because they own Wells Fargo shares—were ejected after shouting over CEO John Stumpf's presentation about the bank's $15.9 billion profit in 2011, reports the San Francisco Chronicle . Hundreds of other protesters, including Occupy activists and people whose homes have been foreclosed, surrounded the downtown building where the meeting was being held. More»

Bank accused of mortgage abuses

(NEWSER) - Wells Fargo has agreed to cough up $85 million to settle allegations that it steered borrowers with good credit towards expensive subprime mortgages and falsified information on borrowers' income on loan documents. The Federal Reserve says the fine, the first levied in relation to the predatory big-bank practices blamed for the housing bubble, is the largest that it has ever issued under its consumer-protection authority, CNN reports. More»

Feds go after bank fee 'profiteering'

(NEWSER) - Say goodbye to the $35 Frappuccino. As of yesterday, if you don't choose to opt-in for overdraft protection, your bank can't saddle you with a hefty fee on the Starbucks beverage you don't actually have enough money in your account for. A new overdraft protection law has come into effect, and—as those whose banks have recently barraged them with calls and letters encouraging them to stay in overdraft programs may have noticed—banks are eager to get as many customers as possible to opt in, as overdraft fees are a major source of revenues. More»

Fed massaged some figures to portray banks as healthy

(NEWSER) - Some major banks managed to cajole the government into using more optimistic figures in its "stress test" results, insiders tell the Washington Post. Banks like Citigroup—eager to show they were healthy and didn't need more help from the government—were given credit for pending moves to raise capital, resulting in the report showing shortages of capital well below what many experts had predicted. More»

(NEWSER) - CEOs of the nation’s largest banks today assured President Obama they understand their institutions are vital to economic recovery and pledged to do all they can to help the government, Bloomberg reports. Following today’s White House meeting, Wells Fargo’s CEO said “the basic message” of the powwow “is we’re all in this together.” More»