Wells Fargo Gets Fresh Sanction Under Scharf With OCC’s Fine

  • Bank must pay $250 million over long-standing problems
  • ‘This is unacceptable,’ acting chief of the regulator says

    

Photographer: Craig Warga/Bloomberg
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Wells Fargo & Co. was handed a fresh regulatory action and a $250 million fine over its lack of progress addressing long-standing problems, the first such sanction under Chief Executive Officer Charlie Scharf.

The penalty adds to the more than $5 billion in fines and legal settlements that the firm has paid over the last five years tied to a series of scandals that began with fake accounts in its branch network. The latest order, from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, cites deficiencies in Wells Fargo’s home-lending loss mitigation practices -- the steps firms take to avoid foreclosure -- that have prevented the bank from being able to “fully and timely remediate harmed customers.”