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In Enforcement, Regulators Hold the Cards but Banks Can Negotiate
By Brian Orsak
printSometimes you don't want to cross the little guy. Wells Fargo & Co. Chief Executive Officer Richard Kovacevich may have learned that lesson in 2005 after he sought a favor from top officials at the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). After documenting a litany of compliance deficiencies at the bank, including weak money laundering controls, examiners recommended the OCC issue a formal cease and desist order. But senior OCC officials, after meeting with Kovacevich, overruled the examiners and decided to let Wells Fargo off with a nonformal reprimand. When word of that decision leaked...
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