We often read about lucrative bonus payments made to CEOs and other senior executives. With refinements in corporate governance structures, shareholders and investors are raising concerns over executive bonuses. To bring balance to the equation, companies have to punish executives through clawbacks for misconduct. The Wells Fargo scandal is an example of how clawbacks can be effectively used to punish wrongdoing. In the aftermath of...

If there ever is an example of a rotten corporate culture, Wells Fargo sits at the head of the class.  Since Wells Fargo’s sales pressure scandal, Wells Fargo has continued to suffer from a string of scandals and misconduct.  Along the way, and notwithstanding spending millions on lawyers, consultants, accountants and other professionals to fix its culture and controls, Wells Fargo still has not recovered. ...

It is hard to write yet another posting about Wells Fargo’s misconduct.  Wells Fargo’s troubles continue unabated.  I am not exaggerating — I promise.  Every few months, we hear about another problem, another enforcement action, another uncovering of misconduct.  I do not intend to attempt to even recount all of Wells Fargo’s horrible history.  We all know it, and like a rotten fish, we all...

This year, 2020, has been an enforcement year opening with billion-dollar settlements: first, Airbus settled FCPA charges for $4 billion, and now Wells Fargo for $3 billion.  What a start to an enforcement year! We all have heard about the Wells Fargo debacle, and I have written repeatedly about Wells Fargo’s blatant misconduct.  Wells Fargo has defined itself as a company lead by rotten senior...

In an unprecedented action, on February 2, 2018, the Federal Reserve restricted Wells Fargo’s ability to grow its business until it implements comprehensive improvements to its board governance and risk and compliance systems.  Citing Wells Fargo’s poor record of governance and risk management resulting in the community banking sales incentive scandal and continuing problems at the bank, the Federal Reserve imposed detailed governance and risk...

As we look across the corporate governance landscape and focus on the spikes of corporate scandals, I started to wonder if there was any pattern or trend to the nature of corporate scandals. In the early 2000s, the country was rocked by financial accounting scandals and massive fraud in corporate reporting. In response, the Sarbanes-Oxley reforms were enacted, transforming the auditing and financial reporting requirements....

Compliance and enforcement headlines have focused on the Wells Fargo scandal. And for good reason. On September 8, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Comptroller of the Currency and the Los Angeles County Attorney announced the regulatory settlement against Wells Fargo. The enforcement action included a detailed discussion of the facts. What was interesting in the public announcement was that the Justice Department had...