That Wells Fargo Compliance managers and consultants, whose jobs are to help departments navigate the complex regulations which govern our industry, will not give a straight answer to a question?? 😏
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Compliance is the HR version but for regulations. Their job is to protect the Bank. They are literally taught to say yes and no in the same statement to avoid getting the Bank in trouble. You want a straight answer, Google it.
@kvn That’s because legal doesn’t know every facet of the business. They’re too busy trying to answer a million one-off question under the sun while compliance sits there not speaking up to cover themselves as everyone else just explained when these issues aren’t legal. There isn’t always a black or white reg or law that covers the operational nuances of Wells Fargo. The amount of rubber-stamping every team wants legal to do is also off the charts. “We need legal to approve this font color, this envelope size, a URL, how long is the retention schedule if my team has covid during a full moon?” Seriously, do you guys hear yourselves sometimes? Don’t blame legal for not providing an answer your compliance partner should provide.
on home lending call today almost half the hour was some lady talking about the number of active audits we have, the number of open "issues", new "issues", resolved "issues" year to date, number of red, yellow, or green rated "issues". This on a call of probably 750 people and only 1-2 teams of about 30 actually work on these "issues". complete joke.
I became friends with the liaison (or internal consultant) to our LOBs Compliance Manager. (He has since moved to another position) He told me that the Compliance Manager specifically instructed him NOT to give firm answers because than THEY would be held accountable if something goes wrong. Nice huh? So they would point us to various regulatory sights etc, but tell us that we would have to make the decisions for our department since that was supposed to be our specialty. In one complex situation, our department had to pay for Outside Counsel because Wells Fargo’s own lawyers wouldn’t give guidance.
So if anyone wonders why WFC is in trouble with the law all the time - it’s because no one at the bank wants to be held accountable for making a decision. (If it were me: I would research something thoroughly, put everything in writing explaining my answer and keep documentation in case someone tries to come back on me.)
@kcs+1o7ITv0n You have hit then nail on the head. Ratings and pay in Risk and Audit are based on how many issues they raise and how many challenges they record. And it’s just about numbers… no one gives a s:it about the risk or value to the business of their work. New people hired from other firms have taken it to extremes now. Senior managers tell their teams to inflate their assessment of risk in areas they cover. Junior people are whipped when they question or show any hesitation. More risk means more importance, more money and more people in their fiefdoms. It is a scandal in the same way fake accounts are a scandal. Regs are too d-mb to follow the scam.
- They are storing that nugget of information for future use against you by looking for a gap or inadequate control around whatever clarification you asked about. If they give you a straight answer…they lose a potential issue management/corrective action “lead”.
- You would (rightly) hold them accountable for any gap identified post their answer if you built/enhanced a control based on their answer.
- You’ve reached someone who has no clue.
In the past, I’ve been able to seek their guidance or opinion on poorly written policies, procedures or regulations. Under the current c-suite and framework, unfortunately their role is not to help you but to catch you. And forget about Control as they are placed in an oddly biased position regardless of how it’s “supposed” to be or written in the framework.
WF risk management is an absolute disaster. It will be interesting to see if the Regs can see through all the smoke and mirrors or not.
It isn’t ironic. They’re just d-mb and we’re cronie hires. Source: myself, worked there and was so disgusted I got out because I was continually shunned and underpaid for giving straight answers
OP.....have you been paying attention to Town Halls? NONE of the executives will give a straight answer!!
They did give you a straight answer. You’re just not smart enough to understand it
No, it isn’t.