Enforcement

Wells Fargo, the lender grappling with a scandal involving unauthorized customer accounts, had its outlook lowered to negative from stable by Fitch Ratings.

A Morgan Stanley unit was accused by Massachusetts officials of forcing its financial advisers into high-pressure sales contests to cross-sell so-called securities-based loans and other products to clients.

Chicago Treasurer Kurt Summers plans to divest $25 million the city has invested with Wells Fargo after the company admitted to opening potentially millions of bogus client accounts, joining state officials who have pulled business from the bank because of the scandal.

While the Wells Fargo scandal might offer marketing opportunities for community banks, there is concern about regulatory fallout that fails to distinguish between large and small banks.

U.S. Bancorp has agreed to settle a lawsuit that claimed it neglected to maintain foreclosed properties in Southern California after the 2008 financial crisis.

Wells Fargo Chief Executive John Stumpf's two disastrous appearances on Capitol Hill have fueled calls for him to resign — and many analysts are wondering whether the embattled executive will be able to keep his job.

BB&T Corp. has agreed to pay $83 million to settle a Department of Justice investigation over loans that failed quality control tests but were still insured by the Federal Housing Administration.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's proposal not only requires lenders to determine a borrower's ability to repay, but also forces creditors to follow the bureau's approach to making that determination.

Three Democratic senators led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., have asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether Wells Fargo and senior officials violated laws by misleading investors and firing whistleblowers while the bank oversaw the creation of 2 million phony accounts.

The Department of Justice wants banks to more fully cooperate with civil investigations. Companies now are expected to "materially assist" the agency in providing documents, access to witnesses and even inculpatory documentary evidence such as emails and text messages.

Since John Stumpf's appearance before the Senate Banking Committee last week, the situation has become even worse for the Wells Fargo CEO, with new lawsuits filed, the Labor Department opening an investigation and the CFTC fining it for an unrelated action. Here's what to expect when Stumpf appears in the House on Thursday.

The Department of Labor said Tuesday it is launching a probe into whether Wells Fargo violated labor laws by instituting stringent sales quotas — practices that led to a $190 million settlement with federal regulators earlier this month.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Monday fined a large auto title lender $9 million for failing to disclose the terms and costs of its title loans in three states, and for illegally exposing consumers' information to their employers.

Park National in Newark, Ohio, has agreed to pay $500,000 to settle Securities and Exchange Commission allegations that its loan-loss accounting underplayed credit problems at a troubled acquisition.

Lisa McDougald, the deputy general counsel at the $222 billion-asset BB&T in Winston-Salem, N.C., and Leon Holschbach, chief executive at Midland States Bancorp, a $3 billion-asset company in Effingham, Ill., were appointed to the board this summer.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a lawsuit this week against a Van Nuys, Calif., credit repair company for deceptively marketing its services and charging consumers illegal fees.

A compliance-at-all-costs mentality, which is the overarching attitude in many banks, results in overspending and overallocating valuable resources to meet both real and perceived compliance standards.

An independent chairman could uncover or minimize damage from fraud while also meting out punishment more impartially after the fact. The longtime corporate governance argument has new legs in light of the account scam at Wells Fargo, whose board is led by CEO John Stumpf.

Despite several attempts over the past two weeks, Wells Fargo has been unable to quell the furor surrounding revelations that thousands of employees opened millions of phony accounts. Here's why.

The Wells Fargo scandal is more reason for officials to tighten policy on anti-tying measures to put a stop to overly aggressive sales methods.