What do you do when you find yourself paying out billions for defrauding people, veterans, businesses, and the government? The first thing you do is threaten teachers. Then, you make some cuts. CNN reports that in order to cut costs, Wells Fargo has announced it will be selling off its branches in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio—the entirety of three states.
Flagstar Bancorp (FBC), a savings and loan, is buying the branches — 52 in all, including four of Wells Fargo's locations in Wisconsin.
All told, about $2.3 billion in deposits will leave Wells Fargo. The company said that all 490 employees will get offers to work at Flagstar.
Wells Fargo says it will still do commercial and mortgage lending in those states. Thanks, Wells Fargo.
The acquisition will more than double the customer base of Flagstar, which is just a fraction the size of Wells Fargo. The Michigan-based bank is valued at $2 billion and has about 3,500 employees. By comparison, Wells Fargo has a $267 billion market value and employs about 263,000 people.
That’s one way to create more banking options.