Wells Fargo & Co. is a diversified financial services company with operations around the world. Wells Fargo is the fourth largest bank in the US by assets and the third largest bank by market cap. Wells Fargo is the second largest bank in deposits, home mortgage servicing, and debit card. In 2007 it was the only bank in the United States to be rated AAA by S&P , though its rating has since been lowered to AA- in light of the 2008 Financial Crisis.
Headquartered in San Francisco, California (its bank, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., is legally chartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota), Wells Fargo is a result of an acquisition of California-based Wells Fargo & Co. by Minneapolis-based Norwest Corporation in 1998. The new company chose to keep the name Wells Fargo, to capitalize on the 150-year history of the nationally-recognized Wells Fargo name and its trademark stagecoach. After the merger, the company maintained its headquarters in San Francisco and charter in Sioux Falls.
As of 2009, Wells Fargo has 6,650 retail branches (called stores by Wells Fargo), 12,260 automated teller machines, 276,000 employees and over 48 million customers. Wells Fargo currently operates stores and ATMs under the Wells Fargo and Wachovia names. Wells Fargo was named as "The World's Safest US Bank" based on long-term foreign currency ratings from Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor's and the long-term bank deposit ratings from Moody’s Investors Service for the year 2007.
Wells Fargo is one of the Big Four Banks of the United States with Bank of America, Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase.
Lines of business
Wells Fargo offers a range of financial services in over 80 different business lines. Wells Fargo delineates three different business segments when reporting results: Retail Banking, Wholesale Banking, and Consumer Finance.
Community banking
The Community Banking segment includes Regional Banking, Wealth Management Group, Diversified Products and the Consumer Deposits groups.
Wells Fargo also has around 9,400 stand alone mortgage branches throughout the country. It also does mortgage wholesale lending through independent mortgage brokers.
Brokerage
Wells Fargo offers investment products through its subsidiaries, Wells Fargo Investments, LLC and Wells Fargo Advisors (previously known as Wachovia Securities). It also offers mutual funds under the Wells Fargo Advantage brand name and Evergreen Funds.
Calibre
Calibre is a subsidiary that Wells Fargo currently uses for its wealth management services to ultra-high net worth families with net worth exceeding $25 million. Calibre was acquired as part of the purchase of Wachovia.
Internet services
Wells Fargo launched its personal computer banking service in 1989 and was the first bank to introduce access to banking accounts on the web in May 1995.
Wells Fargo's Business Online Banking gives small business owners all the services available to consumers, plus services designed specifically for businesses.
The new Wells Fargo vSafe service offers online storage of documents.
Wholesale
The Wholesale Banking segment contains products sold to large and middle market commercial companies, as well as to consumers on a wholesale basis. This includes lending, treasury management, mutual funds, asset-based lending, commercial real estate,corporate and institutional trust services, and investment banking through Wells Fargo Securities. The company also owns Barington Associates, a middle market investment bank. Wells Fargo historically has avoided large corporate loans as stand-alone products, instead requiring that borrowers purchase other products along with loans—which the bank sees as a loss leader. One area that is very profitable to Wells, however, is asset-based lending: lending to large companies using assets as collateral that are not normally used in other loans. This can be compared to subprime lending, but on a corporate level. The main brand name for this activity is "Wells Fargo Foothill," and is regularly marketed in tombstone ads in the Wall Street Journal . Wells Fargo also owns Eastdil Secured, which is described as a "real estate investment bank" but is essentially one of the largest commercial real estate brokers for very large transactions (such as the purchase and sale of large Class-A office buildings in central business districts throughout the United States).
Consumer finance
Wells Fargo Financial is the consumer finance segment. It engages in lending through over 1,000 branches throughout the U.S. and in certain other countries. This division also engages in "indirect lending" for such organizations as furniture retailers. This business is based out of Des Moines, Iowa. Norwest purchased DIAL Finance before its acquisition with Wells Fargo. The Home Mortgage group is based out of West Des Moines, Iowa.
Business model
The present business model of Wells Fargo is summed up in its vision statement: "We want to satisfy all of our customers' financial needs, help them succeed financially, be the premier provider of financial services in every one of our markets, and be known as one of America's great companies."
Wells Fargo's goal is to encourage its customers to buy all their financial products through Wells Fargo: "We want to earn 100 percent of our customers' business. The more products customers have with Wells Fargo the better deal they get, the more loyal they are, and the longer they stay with the company, improving retention. Eighty percent of our revenue growth comes from selling more products to existing customers. Our goal: sell at least eight products to every customer."
This is a concept known as "cross-selling," or as Wells Fargo refers to it, "needs-based selling," which is popular in the financial services industry. While earlier companies, such as Prudential, pioneered the concept of selling a variety of products, they acted merely as holding companies and each product was sold through its own distribution channel. However, predecessor Norwest pioneered selling all its products through all its channels, with discounts given to those who purchase a larger variety.
The average "cross-sell ratio" for a financial institution is two (based on an average American consumer owning sixteen different financial products from eight different institutions). Wells Fargo purports to have a cross-sell ratio of 5.5 (2007 data) products per Community Banking household (almost one in five have more than eight), 6.1 (2007 data) for Wholesale Banking customers, and the average middle-market commercial banking customer has more than seven products, which is among the highest in the country. (Washington Mutual was beating them at the end of 2003 with a 5.59 ratio.)
Global Presence
Wells Fargo has a presence in India as well. Wells Fargo India Solutions (WFIS) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Wells Fargo. WFIS is an extended arm of the organization created to support the needs for expansion in technology and business processes. Set up in September 2006 in Hyderabad, India, it is already operating out of two facilities in the city and has people strength of over 850. Its two Offices are located at Raheja MindSpace, Hitech City, and Maytas Hill County SEZ, Bachupally respectively.
History
Main article: History of Wells FargoThe current Wells Fargo is a result of a 1998 merger between Minneapolis-based Norwest Corporation and the original Wells Fargo. Although Norwest was the nominal survivor, the new company kept the Wells Fargo name to capitalize on the long history of the nationally-recognized Wells Fargo name and its trademark stagecoach (the company's slogan, "The Next Stage," is a nod to the company's wagons-west motif). After the acquisition, the parent company moved its headquarters to San Francisco.
Wachovia acquisition superseding plans by Citigroup
On October 3, 2008, Wachovia agreed to be bought by Wells Fargo for about $14.8B in an all stock transaction. This news came four days after the FDIC made moves to have Citigroup buy Wachovia for $2.1B. Citigroup protested Wachovia's agreement to sell itself to Wells Fargo and threatened legal action over the matter. However, the deal with Wells Fargo is expected to overwhelmingly win shareholder approval as it values Wachovia at about 7 times what the Citigroup deal valued Wachovia. To further ensure shareholder approval, Wachovia issued Wells Fargo with preferred stock that holds 39.9% of the voting power in the company. On October 4, 2008, a New York state judge issued a temporary injunction blocking the transaction from going forward while the situation was sorted out. Citigroup alleges that they had an exclusivity agreement with Wachovia that barred Wach
Home Depot Selects Avaya for Multi-Channel Customer Relationship ...
Article from Internet Retailer ... Home Depot Selects Avaya for Multi-Channel Customer Relationship Management Solutions
CRM Software - Customer Relationship Management Software Solutions
Home >Software >Customer Relationship Mgmt: Customer Relationship Management ... flexibility needed to meet customer-specific requirements (MRO, Depot ...
Home Depot Builds Customer Satisfaction with DataDirect SequeLink
Centralized management console. "We ... to a continued close relationship." David Pennington Chief Systems Engineer, Home Depot 1-800-876 ... Home Depot Builds Customer Satisfaction with ...
Welcome to The Home Depot, Inc. Corporate Web Site
According to Bernie and Arthur, the customer has a bill of rights at The Home Depot ... takes” – means cultivating a relationship ... and customers at the top and senior management ...
Home Depot, Inc. - Careers
Customer Service. The key to The Home Depot’s success and an essential ... Developing a one-on-one relationship with ... Project Management. At The Home Depot, being a Project Manager ...
Office Depot Customer Relationship Management Webinar
Go to Teradata Home. Navigation ... for multiple implementations of Office Depot's customer management ... Customer Relationship Management. Teradata Enterprise Data Warehouse ...
Amazon.com: "Home Office Depot": Key Phrase page
Reflected in the window of Home Office Depot was a sign: 30" &G It blinked on, then ... Customer Relationship Management, Second Edition by Francis Buttle
Home Depot Selects Avaya for Multi-channel Customer Relationship ...
Home Depot Selects Avaya for Multi-channel Customer Relationship Management Solutions: Avaya's Interaction Management solutions easily link to existing databases in local stores ...
Free Customer Relationship Management, CRM, Website for Home ...
Free Customer Relationship Management, CRM, Website for Home Improvement Contractors Launched by Renovation Experts ... an attractive alternative to programs such as Sears, Home Depot ...
Much to do about CRM and Social Media: Thanks Phillip at Home Depot ...
... blog is to report my views and experiences in common day Customer Relationship Management ... CRM….Christmas Relationship Management; Home Depot….YouTube snafu….. SMB and CRM ...