The House’s Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) has announced the launch of an investigation into the fraud allegations recently levelled at Wells Fargo.
According to a consent order issued by the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, Wells Fargo employees opened more than 1.5 million potentially unauthorized accounts, resulting in customers receiving charges of more than $2 million in fees on deposit and credit card accounts.
Hensarling submitted a pair of letters on the issue, with one addressed to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and the other sent to James Strother, senior executive vice president and general counsel of Wells Fargo.
“The Committee is very concerned by these serious allegations and is investigating Wells Fargo’s questionable sales practices and corresponding agreements with federal regulators in order to evaluate the application, administration, execution, and effectiveness of Federal laws,” Jeb Hensarling’s letter to Strother said.
The Financial Services Committee is requiring Wells Fargo to provide internal documents relating to the discovery and timing of the cross-selling practices connected to these charges, as well as the allegations, which were first revealed as early as 2011. Wells Fargo Chairman and CEO John Stumpf will testify at a hearing later this month.