Implode-o-Meter News - Wells Fargo, once the No. 1 mortgage player, steps back from business

Dual factors of a lending market that has collapsed since the Federal Reserve began raising rates last year and questions about the long-term profitability of the business led to the decision, said consumer lending chief Kleber Santos. Regulators have heightened oversight of mortgage lending in the past decade, and Wells Fargo garnered further scrutiny after its 2016 fake accounts scandal.
"We are acutely aware of Wells Fargo's history since 2016 and the work we need to do to restore public confidence," Santos said in a phone interview. "As part of that review, we determined that our home-lending business was too large, both in terms of overall size and its scope."

It's the latest, and perhaps most significant, strategic shift that CEO Charlie Scharf has undertaken since joining Wells Fargo in late 2019. Mortgages are by far the biggest category of debt held by Americans, making up 71% of the $16.5 trillion in total household balances. Under Scharf's predecessors, Wells Fargo took pride in its vast share in home loans -- it was the country's top lender as recently as 2019 when it had $201.8 billion in volume, according to industry newsletter Inside Mortgage Finance.

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Wells Fargo, once the No. 1 mortgage player, steps back from business