MW Wells Fargo clears another postscandal regulatory hurdle - but more remain

By Steve Gelsi

The bank's stock rises as it fulfills two disciplinary orders from the Fed related to its mortgage business - but five more remain, including its asset cap

Wells Fargo & Co. has whittled down the disciplinary actions it's facing from federal regulators to five, after the lifting of two consent orders on Tuesday.

The bank said two orders from the Federal Reserve on its mortgage practices have now been lifted, just a few days after it announced it satisfied a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau consent order issued in 2019.

Wells Fargo currently still faces five outstanding public consent orders, including a $1.95 trillion asset cap placed on the bank in 2018 by the Fed.

The bank's stock $(WFC)$ rose 1.3%, as its shares continued to outperform those of the other five largest U.S. banks so far in 2025, partly on the easing of some of its regulatory woes.

At last check, Wells Fargo stock was up 13% so far in 2025 - ahead of gains of 6.6% for $Bank of America Corp(BAC-N)$. $(BAC.SI)$, 9.1% for Morgan Stanley $(MS)$, 10.9% for Goldman Sachs Group Inc. $(GS)$, 11.6% for JPMorgan Chase & Co. $(JPM)$ and 12.3% for $Citigroup Inc(C-N)$. (C)

Wells Fargo Chief Executive Charlie Scharf said the latest consent-order lift marks another "indication that our team is establishing the right processes and controls to meet our regulators' and our own expectations."

The Federal Reserve said the two orders that were lifted on Tuesday originated in 2011. One was focused on deficient practices in residential mortgage-loan servicing and foreclosure processing, and the other took aim at deficient mortgage-lending practices at a former subsidiary.

-Steve Gelsi

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February 04, 2025 13:25 ET (18:25 GMT)

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