Shadow of dummy accounts scandal still looms large over Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo, America's third largest bank said in September 2016 that staff struggling to meet excessive sales targets could have opened as many as 2.1m accounts without customer consent over a five-year period.

On Thursday, it said the problem could be as much as 67% more serious than it first thought, as results of an independent third-party review showed there may have been as many as 3.5m "potentially unauthorised" accounts on the books.

"We apologize to everyone who was harmed by unacceptable sales practices that occurred in our retail bank," said Wells chief executive, Tim Sloan. "To rebuild trust and to build a better Wells Fargo, our first priority is to make things right for our customers, and the completion of this expanded third-party analysis is an important milestone."

In the twelve months since the scandal was reported, Wells ousted its chief executive of nine years, John Stumpf, along with several other top brass, and moved away from the cross-selling platforms it felt fuelled the fires of the deception in the first place.

Head of community banking at Wells, Mary Mack said the firm had made numerous improvements, such as "eliminating product sales goals for retail bankers in bank branches and call centres and increasing oversight and controls – changes that give us confidence that our team members are focused on delivering exceptional service and advice to our customers."

However, the damage, it appears, is not yet done.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau hit the bank with a record $100m penalty and the legal woes had shown no sign of slowing down, as earlier in August Wells were accused of taking advantage of vulnerable independent businesses by overcharging them for processing credit card transactions.

Those which tried to leave were then hit with obscenely high "early termination fees," according to a class action lawsuit filed against the bank in a US District Court.

Wells has said it intends to defend itself against the claims, denying the allegations.

As of 1515 BST, shares in Wells Fargo were flat, down just on the days trading 0.40% to $51.15.