The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has entered into a formal agreement with Wells Fargo Bank requiring the institution to implement improvements to its Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering compliance programme. The agreement, announced on 12 September 2024, identifies deficiencies across multiple elements of Wells Fargo's financial crimes risk management framework and sets out corrective action that the bank must undertake.
The OCC identified deficiencies in Wells Fargo's AML internal controls across a range of foundational compliance obligations. Specific weaknesses were found in suspicious activity reporting, currency transaction reporting, customer due diligence, customer identification programme and beneficial ownership programmes.
A formal agreement is a public enforcement action used by the OCC when it has identified serious compliance failings at a national bank that require a structured commitment to remediation.
REGULATORY BACKGROUND
The institution has operated under a Federal Reserve-imposed asset cap since 2018.
Wells Fargo said it had already been working to address a substantial portion of what the formal agreement requires and was committed to completing the work with the same sense of urgency as its other regulatory commitments.