A Wells Fargo & Co. employee letter to top executives cites allegedly questionable practices in its Arizona region, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. The letter suggests how bad behavior in one part of the bank may have spread to other parts of the country, fueling its sales-practices scandal. It also claims that regional executives who oversaw bank branches in Arizona encouraged bankers to lead customers to open multiple products or to find ways to open accounts without customers’ specific knowledge. Arizona was one epicenter of questionable practices at Wells Fargo that led to a regulatory enforcement action against the bank, public outrage and the abrupt exit of its chief executive. The bank hasn’t admitted or denied wrongdoing but is in the process of refunding as many as 2.1 million customers impacted by the questionable sales practices over the past five years. It also is investigating behavior two years beyond that.
