In the wake of the Wells Fargo account opening scandal, the bank is in the dumps…and rightfully so.
Their new CEO says that he understands that his first job is to restore trust in the brand, but we have to ask the question: “Is that even possible?”
And, if it is possible, is it even wise?
First, this is the largest banking scandal in America since the Great Recession, so the alarm that people are feeling is justified.
And, anytime you see a company that had such a rot inside it while playing with the public trust, you have to recognize that wholesale changes aren’t nearly enough.
A massive overhaul of leadership and probably criminal charges seems reasonable.
But back to the question, is something like fixing a brand that does something like this even worth the effort?
Or, possible.
If we look back at the history of some of the bigger and more well known cases of consumer fraud like Enron, we have seen that in most cases the brands that are involved go away.
In my opinion, that is going to be the case here…but let’s play devil’s advocate and try to figure out how to fix it.
Here are 3 first steps that Wells Fargo would need to take to try and repair the damage to its brand.
1. Make significant changes to leadership:
A new CEO is great. Some other wholesale changes, a good start.
But when your bank has been responsible for such a tremendous amount of fraud, everyone involved needs to be cleared away.
When I think about this, I think about the military and war crimes when doing something you know isn’t right just because it was an order isn’t an excuse.
This is the same case. Anyone that has been involved materially in this fraud and the executives and managers that were responsible in any way, all should be removed.
2. Get a customer focus:
One thing is sure, if a company needs to create fake accounts to meet expectations, it is pretty certain that they could care less about their customers.
Another thing that is pretty certain about banking in general is that it isn’t necessarily known for its customer focus in most cases.
But if Wells Fargo is going to have any chance of rescuing its business and its brand, it is going to need to focus on building trust with its customers.
The first step in that is by getting a customer focus.
3. Offer up more transparency:
Not to keep hitting the same note, but again, fraud was occurring on a mass scale…this harmed customers, this harmed investors, this harmed the communities that the bank is present in.
With fraud comes a lot of shady moves and shifty behavior.
The only way to try to regain any kind of high ground is by offering up more transparency.
You need to act in a way that will show your customers and your community that you are making amends for your mistake.
Of course, this is much easier if you have made some significant leadership changes because if you see the same old people in positions of power, it is unlikely that I would trust them.
Again, it is unlikely that Wells Fargo is going to make it through this period without selling off the brand to a competitor. Historically, brands don’t recover from something like this.
But if the brand is to survive, these 3 steps are a good place to start!