Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational banking and financial services holding company which is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with “hubquarters” throughout the country. It is the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by assets and the largest bank by market capitalization. Wells Fargo is the second largest bank in deposits, home mortgage servicing, and debit cards. In 2011, Wells Fargo was the 23rd largest company in the United States. 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 financial crisis of 2007’08. The firm’s primary U.S. operating subsidiary is national bank Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., which designates its main office as Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Wells Fargo in its present form is a result of a merger between San Francisco’based Wells Fargo & Company and Minneapolis-based Norwest Corporation in 1998 and the subsequent 2008 acquisition of Charlotte-based Wachovia. Following the mergers, the company transferred its headquarters to Wells Fargo’s headquarters in San Francisco and merged its operating subsidiary with Wells Fargo’s operating subsidiary in Sioux Falls. Wells Fargo is one of the “Big Four Banks” of the United States, along with JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup’its main competitors. The company operates across 35 countries and has over 70 million customers globally. In 2012, it had more than 9,000 retail branches and over 12,000 automated teller machines in 39 states and the District of Columbia. As of July 12, 2013, Wells Fargo became the world’s biggest bank by market capitalization, worth $236 billion, beating ICBC. In February 2014 Wells Fargo was named the world’s most valuable bank brand for the second year running in The Banker and Brand Finance study of the top 500 banking brands.