Two Million Fake Accounts: Sales Misconduct at Wells Fargo

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

August 7, 2018

Duration

24m

Channel

Harvard Business School

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Coming out of the financial crisis, Wells Fargo was one of the world’s largest and most successful banks, viewed as a role model in how to manage in times of crisis. The news of its sales misconduct – opening more than 2 million fake accounts – in 2016 rocked consumer confidence and inundated the news. Professor Suraj Srinivasan discusses how sales culture, leadership, board oversight, and risk management all played a role. Cold Call distills Harvard Business School’s legendary case studies into podcast form. Hosted by Brian Kenny, the podcast airs every two weeks and features Harvard Business School faculty discussing cases they’ve written and the lessons they impart. Subscribe on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. Listen to an episode at www.hbs.edu/coldcall.

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Brian Kenny

  host

  Host of Harvard Business School’s Cold Call podcast.

• Suraj Srinivasan

  guest

  Harvard Business School professor and co-author of the case on Wells Fargo sales misconduct.

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Harvard Business School, featuring Brian Kenny and Suraj Srinivasan, Two Million Fake Accounts: Sales Misconduct at Wells Fargo explores How Wells Fargo’s cross-selling culture turned into widespread sales fraud The episode examines Wells Fargo’s sales-misconduct scandal through a Harvard Business School case focused on accountability for over 2 million fake accounts and related issues that later emerged in other business lines.

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