In April 2023, Wells Fargo was likely hit with new MRAs - https://seekingalpha.com/news/3956426-wells-fargo-reportedly-scheduled-to-meet-occ-staff-at-end-week
The federal banking regulator was said to have hit Wells Fargo (WFC) with a number of "matters requiring attention" (MRAs) -- partly motivated by March's bank failures -- that focus on concerns of inadequate internal financial controls and oversight of equity and fixed income traders, the article said.
The acting comptroller made it clear that sometimes when a bank grows "too big to manage," that can only be fixed by simplifying its operations "by divesting businesses, curtailing operations, and reducing complexity."
Hsu and the OCC use a four-level escalation framework that decides whether a bank should be broken up.
- Issue a non-public supervisory finding.
- Issuing public "enforcement actions, such as a consent order, which, depending on the infraction, could be paired with a civil money penalty," Hsu said.
- Put a growth limit on the bank.
- Breaking up the bank.
Wells Fargo recently got NEW MRA's in March after SVB failed - and is definitely in the "repeat offender" camp.
U.S. Rep Maxine Waters (D-California), the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, echoed the sentiment for regulation.
"After a string of abusive practices, years of breaking the law, and another public enforcement action announced by the CFPB last month, I am not surprised that Wells Fargo has finally come to the conclusion that I arrived at long ago: Wells Fargo is too big to manage and as a result, incapable of complying with the law," she said in a letter posted last week.
She continued by suggesting that she was in favor of larger penalties.
"I was pleased when Director Chopra urged banking regulators last month to work with him to consider imposing additional limitations on the bank beyond the fines already paid and the limitations the Fed and OCC have imposed on Wells Fargo to date. These escalating penalties do have an impact, as we’ve seen with Wells Fargo’s announcement to downsize its activities. I continue to urge regulators to use the full extent of their authorities to hold all repeat offenders accountable for harming consumers," she shared.
https://www.thestreet.com/banking/u-s-government-suggests-wells-fargo-big-banks-could-be-broken-up
If you are curious on this history of MRA's and the lax oversight of the bank there is a report the treasury did a while back - after this years bank failures there is NEW heightened scrutiny of the banks. Wells Fargo is the problem child/repeat offender.
https://oig.treasury.gov/sites/oig/files/2021-02/OIG-20-046.pdf