Which bank was fined for opening millions of unauthorized customer accounts?

Which bank was fined for opening millions of unauthorized customer accounts? Wells Fargo. Employees at the bank opened unauthorized deposit and credit-card accounts to meet aggressive sales targets and earn incentives.

The scandal became public in 2016, after regulators found that employees had created accounts without customers’ knowledge or consent. Some workers transferred money from legitimate accounts to newly created ones, ordered debit cards, submitted credit-card applications, or enrolled customers in online banking. Customers could face unwanted fees, damaged credit, and confusion over products they had never requested.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fined Wells Fargo $100 million, while other regulators and the Los Angeles City Attorney imposed additional penalties, bringing the initial 2016 enforcement total to $185 million. The bank also had to provide restitution and change its sales practices.

The episode is often called the Wells Fargo fake-accounts scandal or account-fraud scandal. Later reviews found that the problem was broader than the first estimate, with millions of unauthorized or unwanted accounts identified. The case also led to leadership changes and years of regulatory scrutiny.