Wells Fargo history

In the decade following 1855, Wells Fargo expanded into the staging business with overland routes from Missouri and the Midwest to the Rockies and the Far West.

Overland Mail was organized in 1857 by men with substantial interests in four of the leading express companies--American Express, United States Express, Adams Express, and Wells Fargo.

In 1858, Overland Mail was awarded a government contract to carry the United States mail over the southern overland route from St Louis to California.

In 1859 there was a crisis when Congress failed to pass the annual post office appropriation bill and left the post office with no way to pay for the Overland Mail Company's services.

A stagecoach ride in 1861 led Samuel Clemens to new opportunities in Nevada, where he started his writing career under the pen name Mark Twain.

Wells Fargo, however, did not acquire ownership of the company until the consolidation of 1866.

Ashbel H. Barney, Danforth Barney's brother and cofounder of United States Express Company, replaced McLane as president in 1868.

Although the days of stagecoaching gradually declined after completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869, Wells Fargo coaches continued to serve areas where the railroads did not operate, in some places even into the early 20th century.

The number of banking and express offices grew from 436 in 1871 to 3,500 at the turn of the century.

Harriman reached an agreement with Isaias W. Hellman, a Los Angeles banker, to merge Wells Fargo's bank with the Nevada National Bank, founded in 1875 by the Nevada silver moguls James G. Fair, James Flood, John Mackay, and William O'Brien to form the Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank.

With the help of benefactors, land near his home in Aurora, New York, was transformed into Wells Seminary (later Wells College) for women (now coed). In his final years, Wells traveled for his health, eventually settling in Glasgow, Scotland, where he died in 1878.

In 1885 Wells Fargo also began selling money orders.

After the completion of the transcontinental railroad, Wells Fargo made it a point to adopt the motto “Ocean-to-Ocean,” and in 1888, it served about 25 states and over 2,500 communities.

In April 1906 the San Francisco earthquake and fire destroyed most of the city's business district, including the Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank building.

The Panic of 1907, begun in New York in October, followed on the heels of this frenetic reconstruction period.

In 1923, Wells Fargo Nevada merged with the Union Trust Company to form the Wells Fargo Bank & Union Trust Company.

Banco was one of three major banks (the others being First Bank System and First Interstate Bancorp) that was allowed to conduct interstate banking under a grandfather clause in the 1927 act.

1928: Giannini forms Transamerica Corporation as a holding company for his banking and other interests.

In 1929, Northwest Bancorporation was formed as a banking association.

Another 90 banks joined Banco in its first year of operation and by 1932 there were 139 affiliates.

The company did well during the Great Depression; during a Bank Holiday in March 1933, the company actually gained $2 million of deposits.

In 1954 the name of the bank was shortened to Wells Fargo Bank, to capitalize on frontier imagery and in preparation for further expansion.

In 1960, Wells Fargo merged with American Trust Company to form the Wells Fargo Bank American Trust Company.

Firstamerica changed its name to Western Bancorporation in 1961.

In 1962, Wells Fargo American Trust shortened its name to Wells Fargo Bank.

In November 1966, Wells Fargo's board of directors elected Richard P. Cooley president and CEO. At 42, Cooley was one of the youngest men to head a major bank.

In 1967 Wells Fargo, together with three other California banks, introduced a Master Charge card (now MasterCard) to its customers as part of its plan to challenge Bank of America in the consumer lending business.

Stephen Chase, who planned to retire in January 1968, became chairman.

In 1969 the holding company Wells Fargo & Company came into being; it owned all shares of Wells Fargo Bank, NA, as the bank was renamed.

Wells Fargo's loans to businesses increased dramatically after 1971.

In 1973 a tighter monetary policy made this arrangement less profitable, but Wells Fargo saw an opportunity in the new interest limits on passbook savings.

Unfavorable exchange rates hit Wells Fargo for another $2 million in 1975.

The troubles actually began in late 1979 when Richard H. Vaughan, the president and CEO, died by electrocution when he touched an electrical wire that had fallen during a storm.

In 1980 Richard Cooley, now chairman of the holding company, told Fortune, 'It's time to slow down.

In October 1981 John W. Morrison was named chairman and CEO. The new leader began centralizing the still loosely knit confederation.

In 1982 the 80-odd affiliates began to be grouped into eight regions reporting to a corporate vice-chairman.

In January 1983, Carl Reichardt became chairman and CEO of the holding company and of Wells Fargo Bank.

In August 1984 the head of Norwest Mortgage was fired because of the hedging losses.

In 1986, Wells Fargo purchased rival Crocker National Corporation from Britain's Midland Bank for about $1.1 billion.

In 1987, Wells Fargo set aside large reserves to cover potential losses on its Latin American loans, most notably to Brazil and Mexico.

By December 1988, the nonperforming loan total stood at just $150 million.

Net income stood at $237 million for 1989.

In April 1990 Norwest paid $173 million for Sheboygan-based First Interstate of Wisconsin, a $2 billion concern.

By early 1991 Norwest had 291 bank branches in 11 states, having moved into Indiana, Illinois, and Wyoming.

The largest purchase yet came in 1992 when Norwest paid about $420 million in stock for United Banks of Colorado Inc., a bank based in Denver with total assets of $6.3 billion.

At the beginning of 1993, Johnson handed over his CEO position to Kovacevich.

At the end of 1994, after 12 years of service during which Wells Fargo & Co. investors enjoyed a 1,781 percent return, Reichardt stepped aside as head of the company.

In May 1995, Wells Fargo became the first major US financial services firm to offer internet banking.

But First Bank ran into regulatory difficulties with the way it had structured its offer and was forced to bow out of the takeover battle in mid-January 1996.

The merger of Loomis Armored Inc. and Wells Fargo Armored Service Corp. in 1997 created Loomis, Fargo & Co., a division of Securitas AB, a Swedish company.

In 1998, Wells Fargo Bank was acquired by Norwest Corporation of Minneapolis, with the combined company assuming the Wells Fargo name.

Continuing the Norwest tradition of making numerous smaller acquisitions each year, Wells Fargo acquired 13 companies during 1999 with total assets of $2.4 billion.

In October 2000 Wells Fargo made its largest deal since the Norwest-Wells Fargo merger when it paid nearly $3 billion in stock for First Security Corporation, a $23 billion bank holding company based in Salt Lake City, Utah, and operating in seven western states.

In June 2007, John Stumpf was named chief executive officer of the company and Richard Kovacevich remained as chairman.

As part of the redemption of the preferred stock, Wells Fargo also paid accrued dividends of $131.9 million, bringing the total dividends paid to $1.441 billion since the preferred stock was issued in October 2008.

In April 2009, Wells Fargo acquired North Coast Surety Insurance Services.

In 2010, Wells Fargo launched what it believes to be the first blog among its industry peers to report on its environmental stewardship and to solicit feedback and ideas from its stakeholders.

In 2011, the company hired 25 investment bankers from Citadel LLC.

In April 2012, Wells Fargo acquired Merlin Securities.

In 2015, Wells Fargo Rail acquired GE Capital Rail Services and merged in with First Union Rail.

In March 2017, Wells Fargo announced a plan to offer smartphone-based transactions with mobile wallets including Wells Fargo Wallet, Android Pay and Samsung Pay.

In June 2018, Wells Fargo sold all 52 of its physical bank branch locations in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio to Flagstar Bank.

In March 2019, CEO Tim Sloan resigned amidst the Wells Fargo account fraud scandal and former general counsel C. Allen Parker became interim CEO.

WFAM had $603 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2020, of which 33% was invested in money market funds.