It’s been a (deservedly) bad month for Wells Fargo, what with the bank being ordered to pay $185 million in penalties because employees opened millions of bogus accounts, not to mention the ongoing Justice Department investigation. It would seem like a prime time for the competition to pile on the misery and steal away customers, but the CEO of U.S. Bank is demanding his staff not give into that temptation.
U.S. Bank employees were warned Thursday that under no circumstances are they to attempt to capitalize on Wells Fargo’s situation — at least publicly, The Star Tribune reports.
CEO Richard Davis told investors that the company won’t tolerate employees who publicly and overtly go after Wells Fargo customers, because that’s just not how the bank does business.
“So help me God, if I find a branch in one market with an orange flier that says ‘if you bank at Wells come to U.S. Bank,’ they’re going to be let go,” Davis said.
While he didn’t completely close the door on courting Wells Fargo customers looking for another place to bank, he says he just wants the influx of new accounts to come naturally.
“Because the fact of the matter is, the circumstance itself, whatever it becomes, is going to be ours to the benefit if the customers decide to move toward us,” he said. “It may be an opportunity for us but it’s not our job to go out there and call that out. It’d be inappropriate.”
Still, he expects customers to make the transition to the bank over the next few months or years.
If there’s one bank that you’d expect Davis to go after, it probably would have been Wells Fargo, which was accused last year or trying to undermine U.S. Bank’s naming rights to the new Minnesota Vikings facility by allegedly “photobombing” U.S. Bank stadium with a pair of large, illuminated rooftop Wells Fargo signs.
U.S. Bank CEO: Employees shouldn’t disparage Wells Fargo over scandal [Star Tribune]
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