Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo & Company is a big financial services company from the United States. It works in 35 countries and helps more than 70 million people with their money. It is one of the biggest banks in the U.S., called one of the "Big Four Banks," along with JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup.

The main part of the company is Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., which is based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It has thousands of places where people can visit and many machines that give out money. Wells Fargo helps people buy homes and gives advice about saving and investing money.

The company has faced some problems with how it treats customers and has had to answer to government groups. Even with these challenges, Wells Fargo continues to be very important in helping people manage their money around the world. It has offices in many cities like London, Dublin, Paris, and Tokyo, and also employs many people in India and the Philippines.

History

Henry Wells and William G. Fargo, who founded American Express along with John Butterfield, created Wells Fargo & Company in 1852 to provide banking services to California, which was growing quickly because of the California gold rush. Their important early work included moving gold from the Philadelphia Mint and delivering mail faster and cheaper than the U.S. Mail. American Express was not interested in serving California.

By the end of the California gold rush, Wells Fargo became a leading banking company in the West, making large shipments of gold and delivering mail and supplies. It was also the main lender of the Butterfield Overland Mail Company, which ran a long route through the Southwest to San Francisco. In 1860, Congress did not pass the annual Post Office appropriation bill, leaving the Post Office unable to pay Overland Mail Company. This caused Overland to default on its debts to Wells Fargo, allowing Wells Fargo to take control of the mail route. Wells Fargo then operated the western part of the Pony Express.

In 1872, Lloyd Tevis, a friend of the Central Pacific "Big Four" and holder of rights to operate an express service over the Transcontinental Railroad, became president of the company after buying a large share, a position he held until 1892.

In 1905, Wells Fargo separated its banking and express services, and its bank merged with the Nevada National Bank to form the Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank.

During the First World War, the United States government turned Wells Fargo's express business into a federal agency called the US Railway Express Agency (REA). After the war, the REA was privatized and kept running until 1975.

In 1923, Wells Fargo Nevada merged with the Union Trust Company to form the Wells Fargo Bank & Union Trust Company.

In 1954, Wells Fargo & Union Trust shortened its name to Wells Fargo Bank. Four years later, it merged with American Trust Company to form the Wells Fargo Bank American Trust Company. It changed its name back to Wells Fargo Bank in 1962.

In 1968, Wells Fargo became a federal banking charter and turned into Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.. That same year, Wells Fargo merged with Henry Trione's Sonoma Mortgage in a $10.8 million stock transfer, making Trione the largest shareholder in Wells Fargo until Warren Buffett and Walter Annenberg passed him.

One year later, the Wells Fargo & Company holding company was formed, with Wells Fargo Bank as its main subsidiary.

Throughout the 1980s and '90s, Wells Fargo completed many purchases. In 1986, it bought Crocker National Bank from Midland Bank. Then, in 1987 it bought the personal trust business of Bank of America. In 1988, it bought Barclays Bank of California from Barclays plc. In 1991, Wells Fargo spent $491 million to buy 130 branches in California from Great American Bank. In 1996, Wells Fargo bought First Interstate Bancorp for $11.6 billion. The integration went poorly as many executives left.

Wells Fargo became the first major US financial services company to offer internet banking in May 1995.

After its series of purchases, in 1998, Wells Fargo Bank was bought by Norwest Corporation of Minneapolis, and the combined company took the Wells Fargo name.

It then started another round of purchases, beginning in 2000, when Wells Fargo Bank bought National Bank of Alaska and First Security Corporation. In late 2001, it bought H.D. Vest Financial Services for $128 million, but sold it in 2015 for $580 million.

In 2007, Wells Fargo bought Greater Bay Bancorp, which had $7.4 billion in assets, in a $1.5 billion deal. It also bought Placer Sierra Bank and CIT Group's construction unit that same year. In 2008, Wells Fargo bought United Bancorporation of Wyoming and Century Bancshares of Texas.

On October 3, 2008, after Wachovia turned down a lower offer from Citigroup, Wachovia agreed to be bought by Wells Fargo for about $14.8 billion in stock.

In 2010, hedge fund administrator Citco bought the trust company operation of Wells Fargo in the Cayman Islands.

In 2011, the company hired 25 investment bankers from Citadel LLC.

In April 2012, Wells Fargo bought Merlin Securities. In December 2012, it was renamed Wells Fargo Prime Services. In December of that year, Wells Fargo bought a 35% share in The Rock Creek Group LP. The share was increased to 65% in 2014 but sold back to management in July 2018.

In 2015, Wells Fargo Rail bought GE Capital Rail Services and merged it with First Union Rail. In late 2015, Wells Fargo bought three GE units focused on business loans and equipment financing.

In March 2017, Wells Fargo announced a plan to offer smartphone-based transactions with mobile wallets including Wells Fargo Wallet, Android Pay and Samsung Pay.

In June 2018, Wells Fargo sold all 52 of its physical bank branch locations in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio to Flagstar Bank.

In September 2018, Wells Fargo announced it would cut 26,450 jobs by 2020 to reduce costs by $4 billion.

In March 2019, CEO Tim Sloan left because of issues, and former general counsel C. Allen Parker became temporary CEO.

In July 2019, Principal Financial Group bought the company's Institutional Retirement & Trust business.

On September 27, 2019, Charles Scharf was named the company's new CEO.

In 2020, the company sold its student loan collection.

In May 2021, the company sold its Canadian Direct Equipment Finance business to Toronto-Dominion Bank.

In 2021, the company sold its asset management division, Wells Fargo Asset Management (WFAM) to private equity firms GTCR and Reverence Capital Partners for $2.1 billion. WFAM had $603 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2020, of which 33% was invested in money market funds. WFAM was renamed Allspring Global Investments.

In December 2023, Wells Fargo became the first major U.S. bank with a unionized branch, when employees at an Albuquerque, New Mexico branch voted to join the Communications Workers of America's Wells Fargo Workers United (WFWU). As of 2026, less than 30 of the bank's 4,000 branches have unionized, about 0.1% of the bank’s workforce.

In September 2024, Wells Fargo started a $1.6 billion loan to help Tempur Sealy International buy Mattress Firm Group.

In December 2024, Wells Fargo said it would sell its old San Francisco headquarters building to move to another building nearby. This move was seen by bankers as a sign that the financial industry is moving away from San Francisco and California.

In June 2025, Wells Fargo hired a senior banker from Citigroup to lead its activism defense practice, as companies struggle to build teams to help clients facing pressure from activist investors.

In July 2025, Wells Fargo said it wanted to end its partnership with Bilt Rewards earlier than planned, a partnership that started in 2022. Wells Fargo was losing as much as $10 million per month according to The Wall Street Journal. The partnership was originally set to end in 2029.

Environmental record

In 2022, Wells Fargo set a goal to reduce emissions by companies it lends to in the oil and gas sector by 26% by 2030 from 2019 levels. Some critics say these goals conflict with the bank being a major lender to fossil fuel companies in the U.S. and one of the largest globally. The company has promised to reach net zero financed emissions by 2050; however, major environmental groups are unsure this goal will be met. The company has said it will not finance any hydrocarbon exploration projects in the Arctic. The company has also provided financing to renewable energy projects.

In December 2024, Wells Fargo left its membership of Net- Zero Banking Alliance.

Financing of Dakota Access Pipeline

Wells Fargo is a lender on the Dakota Access Pipeline, a long underground oil pipeline transport system in North Dakota. The pipeline has been controversial because of its possible impact on the environment.

In February 2017, the city councils of Seattle, Washington and Davis, California voted to move $3 billion of deposits from the bank because of its financing of the Dakota Access Pipeline as well as issues.

Lawsuits, fines, and controversies

Wells Fargo has faced many investigations and legal actions over the years. In 2018, important rules stopped the bank from growing until it fixed its problems.

The bank has also faced fines for treating customers unfairly, like charging too much for certain loans or mixing up account balances. These issues have led to big payments to settle lawsuits and efforts to change how the bank operates.

In popular culture

Wells Fargo has appeared in many movies and songs. In the 1939 film Stagecoach, you can see a chest labeled "Wells Fargo." Other films like Seven Men from Now, Cheyenne, Wells Fargo, and Unclaimed Goods also feature the company. There was even a TV series called Tales of Wells Fargo that aired from 1957 to 1962.

The company’s stagecoaches have been mentioned in songs too, like in "The Deadwood Stage (Whip-Crack-Away!)" from the 1953 film Calamity Jane. In The Music Man, Wells Fargo helps deliver instruments for the town band. The famous stagecoach also appears in Back to the Future Part III when Marty McFly walks through the town of Hill Valley. The song "The Wells Fargo Wagon" is part of the Broadway musical The Music Man.

Charity

In March 2022, Wells Fargo gave $1 million to the American Red Cross to help people fleeing from the Russian invasion.

In April 2022, the Wells Fargo foundation promised $210 million to help make homeownership fairer. This included $60 million for special grants and $150 million to help lower costs for homeowners.

In April 2023, Wells Fargo and the TD Jakes Group started a 10-year partnership to build better communities. Wells Fargo agreed to spend about $1 billion on projects, starting with building homes and shops near Atlanta.

In December 2023, Darlene Goins became the leader of the Wells Fargo Foundation. She has worked to help people access basic banking services and financial education.