Wells Fargo built its strategy on selling more products to its existing customers. Its chief executive, John Stumpf, wrote in a 2010 letter to shareholders that the goal was eight products per customer, because “eight ‘rhymed with great.'”
At a Senate hearing on September 20, 2016, Senator Richard Shelby read the line back to him. Employees had opened about 1.5 million deposit accounts and 565,000 credit card accounts that customers may not have authorized. The bank paid $185 million in fines, and about 5,300 employees were fired.