In July 2015, Wells Fargo became the world's largest bank by market capitalization, edging past ICBC,[5] before slipping behind JP Morgan Chase in September 2016, in the wake of a scandal involving the creation of over 2 million fake bank accounts by Wells Fargo employees.[4] Wells Fargo surpassed Citigroup Inc. to become the third-largest U.S. bank by assets at the end of 2015. Wells Fargo is the second-largest bank in deposits, home mortgage servicing, and debit cards. The firm's primary U.S. operating subsidiary is national bank Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., which designates its main office as Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Wells Fargo in its present form is a result of a merger between San Francisco–based Wells Fargo & Company and Minneapolis-based Norwest Corporation in 1998 and the subsequent 2008 acquisition of Charlotte-based Wachovia.
Following the mergers, the company transferred its headquarters to Wells Fargo's headquarters in San Francisco and merged its operating subsidiary with Wells Fargo's operating subsidiary in Sioux Falls.
As of December 31, 2015, it had 8,700 retail branches and 13,000 automated teller machines.[7] The company operates across 35 countries and has over 70 million customers globally.[7]
In February 2014, Wells Fargo was named the world's most valuable bank brand for the second year running[8] in The Banker and Brand Finance study of the top 500 banking brands.[9] In 2016, Wells Fargo ranked 7th on the Forbes MagazineGlobal 2000 list of largest public companies in the world[7] and ranked 27th on the Fortune 500 list of the largest companies in the United States.[10]
In 2015, the company was ranked the 22nd most admired company in the world, and the 7th most respected company in the world.[7] As of October 2015, the company had a credit rating of AA−.[11] However, for a brief period in 2007, the company was the only AAA-rated bank, reflecting the highest credit rating from two firms.[12]