Wells Fargo says account openings slow in October

Wells Fargo & Co's account openings slowed in October, following a sales scandal that shattered the bank's folksy image, triggered federal and state investigations and cost the bank's chief executive his job. October consumer account opens fell 27 percent from September and were down 44 percent from a year earlier, Wells Fargo said on Thursday.
"Because the sales practices settlement was announced on September 8, October data reflects the first full month of impact," Mary Mack, head of Wells Fargo's community banking business, said in a statement. The bank agreed in September to pay regulators $185 million to settle charges that its staff opened as many as 2 million accounts without customers' knowledge or approval. Reuters reported in October that thousands of small business customers were also affected by the misconduct.