Founded in 1998 as a merger between the original Wells Fargo and a Norwest-based financial company, Wells Fargo is currently the largest financial company by global market capitalization and the fourth in terms of global market capitalization. banking in the United States (Rau, 2001). It is a public company listed on the NYSE as WFC S&P 500 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Currently, the company offers the following services: direct to consumer banking where it receives deposits from the public, corporate banking, finance and insurance where it offers investment advice and works hand in hand with small, medium and large companies (Fradkin, 2002). It also launched a mortgage and real estate credit and loan program in 2007. Say no to plagiarism. Get Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get Original Essay The company had revenue and operating profit of US$86.08 billion and US$28.47 billion US dollars in 2015 respectively. Globally, the company has 269,200 employees and an annual net profit of US$18.89 billion (www.yahoofinance.com, 2016). Creating Solutions for Stronger Communities by Wells Fargo is the organization's global corporate social responsibility slogan. Business ethics are values ​​that govern the actions, behaviors and policies of individuals in an organization and of the organization as a whole. Ethics platforms are channels used to ensure that organizations can be held accountable for ethical issues and actions (Fradkin, 2002). Different ethical issues can be addressed using different ethical platforms depending on the sensitivity of the topic. Wells Fargo takes care of one of the most sensitive elements of society: money. It is necessary to ensure the existence of an ethical culture that keeps an eye on the business ethics practiced by the organization globally. Wells Fargo has intranet and Internet websites with interactive options to enable appropriate communication with the necessary authority. For the website, it is mainly aimed at the public, both members and non-members, where they can access the products offered by the organization. The characteristics of the products are clearly indicated as well as the attached terms and conditions. In case of complaints and compliments, there is a contact number and email address to which one can send their message and resolve their problem. There is an Online Access Agreement which each visitor to the Website must agree to before accessing the Website. With the aim of keeping the public informed about the actions undertaken by the organization, the website indicates the vision, mission and objectives of the bank and therefore, it is likely to achieve them to each individual. The website describes some of the corporate social responsibilities undertaken by the organization. The platform communicates the organization's social responsibility starting with priorities such as social inclusion and diversity that enable equal treatment, access to resources, services and opportunities offered by Wells Fargo. (La Marca, 2008). The organization does not encourage discrimination based on gender, race and age and seeks to ensure that society also has the same view of the aforementioned factors. The organization is heavily involved in the economic empowerment of women and youth. This is a global activity open for everyone to connect and contribute in terms of monetary assistance andprofessional. It aims to ensure self-sufficiency and empower underserved and marginalized communities (Fradkin, 2002). This is particularly true in developing countries in Asia. Due to the increasing nature of the effects of global warming, the organization has the ethical right and obligation to ensure environmental sustainability by using low carbon management and production methods and this information can be accessed. on their website. The bank also advocates environmental sustainability by having a volunteer program that helps raise awareness of the effects of human activities on the environment. The program allows bank staff and customers to come together and interact in a less professional and formal environment. For the internal website for employees and shareholders, there are ethics platforms where unethical treatment and actions can be reported to human resources for disciplinary action. to take. HR policies are clearly stated on the intranet and any updates are properly communicated to employees to ensure that they are kept informed of changes in the organization (La Marca, 2008). Disciplinary actions to be taken due to unethical internal actions are clearly spelled out in employment laws and regulations. The ethics platform is clear, concise and detailed to meet the needs of the organization's customers and employees. Conversely, much more needs to be done to ensure that business ethics are respected and improved in line with changes in laws and employment laws. Currently, Wells Fargo faces fierce competition from its competitors JPMorgan Chase & Co, Bank of America, and Citigroup (Hume & Thacker, 2010). All three have extensive and well-structured financial networks around the world. They have a competitive advantage because they control a significant share of the global financial market. With current litigation, employment issues, and diminishing market influence, the organization appears to be in a downward spiral. The company's returns began to decline during the 2012 U.S. economic recession, which caused the price of mortgages to fall as households sold them. because they no longer had the means. This led to a significant decline in profits earned and, consequently, a reduction in the competitive advantage that the organization had gained in the industry. The organization is currently involved in one of the largest credit card fraud cases in American history. Since 2011, Wells Fargo employees have been creating pretentious credit card accounts using their customers' information in order to increase the number of customers and achieve their goals. These credit cards would, as expected, result in credit card application and processing fees on the customer's account that the customer was expected to pay or have deductions automatically made from their savings or salary account. Employees went further, opening 1.5 million pretentious deposit accounts by inventing fake PINs and email addresses, but using other common customer information. After opening these accounts, staff would transfer cash from the customers' bank account balances to the newly opened account and then back to the customers' accounts. This was done to ensure that the new accounts have been activated and are considered active since they have cash inflows and outflows. Transfers would be made multiple times. Since transfer fees areautomated, customers would lose their money in transfer processes they had not approved. In an effort to prove they were marketing the bank's credit cards correctly, employees submitted more than half a million credit card application forms. which went through a rigorous approval process, which resulted in administrative costs for the bank, leading to losses. In a nutshell, unethical employee practices since 2011 have resulted in annual losses of $400,000 in interest charged on funds advanced via fake credit cards, application and processing fees, and annual card retention fee. Additionally, $150,000 per year was lost from customers' savings accounts in the form of transfer fees to and from the fake accounts opened. This led to the dismissal of 5,300 employees who were also charged with multiple counts of professional misconduct and case law relating to misuse of system rights and inconvenience to customers. The bank agreed to reimburse its customers $5 million for their losses and was fined $185 million for damages. Even though the fired employees were held responsible and some of their personal accounts were frozen and the cash must be used to pay the fines. The bank suffered massive losses. The value of their shares has fallen significantly on the New York Stock Exchange and shareholders are threatening to sell them without notice before suffering further losses. The situation was also made worse by Brexit which had a negative impact on their offshore branches in the UK. Since the affair began, the bank has lost 32% of its customers due to lack of trust in their system and fear that the bank could be placed in receivership after fines are paid and customer accounts are refunded. . Former Wells Fargo employees blame the bank's operating environment for their professional misconduct. Managers subject them to strong and toxic pressure to achieve very fixed quarterly and annual objectives. The sales team typically has eight products to sell per day and when the season is peak, they are expected to sell 20 products per day in what is called a “January rush.” When the pressure became too much, employees would break down and start crying and some even threw up in their trash cans. It was this pressure that caused employees to come up with a plan to falsify documents because the targets were simply too high and they feared being fired. With the increase in new product launches, on-the-job training was always conducted and employees were expected. to completely understand products instantly and cross-sell them to customers. Some employees admit to memorizing the features and benefits of products without understanding them in case the manager asks them out of the blue. The bank focused only on the daily results of employees and did not bother to verify the validity of the information offered about the customer. The information was entered into the database and managers quickly approved and congratulated employees. The credit card approval staff, even though they were mandated to verify the information brought in by the credit card sales team, were still overwhelmed. with more work than they could handle. They were also under pressure to quickly approve forms, which led to less validation and simple.