I choose to conduct my Wall Street Journal Research on Wells Fargo and Company. "Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) is a diversified financial services company providing banking, insurance, wealth management and estate planning, investments, mortgage and consumer finance from more than 5,400 stores, the world's leading Internet banking site (www.wellsfargo.com) and other distribution channels across North America and elsewhere internationally." Wells Fargo is currently ranked 62 on the prestigious Fortune 500 list.

I grouped my articles according to their topic. Articles 1-6 are about Wells Fargo, articles 7-10 are about some of Wells Fargo's competitors, and articles 11-14 are about the banking industry.
 

Article 1	Article 2	Article 3	Article 4	Article 5
Article 6	Article 7	Article 8	Article 9	Article 10
Article 11	Article 12	Article 13	Article 14	Wells Fargo Stock Chart

Rating scale:

In addition to grouping my articles by topic, I also rated my articles with stars. The articles received scores between 1 and 5 stars. The articles that had the most value were given 5 stars. The number of stars decrease as the value of the article goes down.
 

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• Loftus, Peter. "What's Shaking?," Dow Jones Newswires, January 14, 2002.

Wells Fargo recently asked their ad agency, Nine Dots Corp., if there was "anything new to try out that we haven't experienced or tried before." What Nine Dots came up with was a holiday themed ad that featured an animated snow globe that grows and shakes, than fades into an image of Wells Fargo's trademark stagecoach being drawn across a wintry landscape. The ad ran on the Weather.com web site during the holiday season.

The ad used an innovative technology from United Virtualities Inc. called "shoshkeles." These ads feature animation and sound with elements that move across a web page within the browser. These ads provide an alternative to ads that pop up in a new window.

Since March 2001 Wells Fargo has been mounting an ad campaign to acquire new customers for their various banking products. The aim of the new ad was to sell personal loans, credit cards and credit lines to consumers who are comfortable with online financial services. The target customers were between the age of 25 and 38, with a yearly income of $65,000 and above and a college or advanced degree.

It took at least a dozen people from four different companies on two continents to come up with the ten second spot. The ad went live on Weather.com on November 30. The ad ran for two weeks and appeared on the screens of web surfers looking for weather conditions in eleven states where Wells Fargo has banking operations.

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• Millman, Joel. "Wells Fargo to Launch Transfer Service Aimed at Latinos Wiring Money to Mexico," The Wall Street Journal Interactive, January 7, 2002.

Wells Fargo and Company has decided to launch a service that will allow people living in the United States to wire as much as $1,000 to their relatives in Mexico for a flat fee of ten dollars. By doing this Wells Fargo enters a market that has been controlled by Western Union and Moneygram. The fees charged by Wells Fargo will be well below the amounts charged by the two leaders. Most customers pay $15 to send sums up to $300 and as much as $50 to send $1,000 to their families south of the border.

This service is part of a broader goal that Wells Fargo has. Wells is looking to build on its client base of 20 million plus households in the Western portion of the U.S. by marketing directly to the millions of Mexican born immigrants. In November Wells began to accept identification papers called matriculas. In the first few weeks Wells branches in California and Texas opened nearly 1,000 new accounts with these documents.

Wells has concentrated their focus on the border where they have branches in fifty communities from San Diego to Texas. In San Ysidro, California a branch sits just a few yards from the world's busiest border crossing. This branch has been Wells' top performer for the last  two years. This branch opens an average of one new checking or savings account every half hour the bank is open.

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• "Wells Fargo and Intuit Team to Provide Instant IRA's," Dow Jones Newswires, January 17, 2002.

Wells Fargo and Company announced an exclusive agreement with Intuit Inc. that will, for the first time, allow customers to open and fund an IRA (Individual Retirement Account) from within the Quicken TurboTax softwareand the Quicken TurboTax web service. With this feature users will instantly see the tax benefit of opening a Wells Fargo IRA. Consumers will be able to reduce their income tax by up to $2000 in 2001.

This agreement further demonstrates Wells Fargo's commitment to innovative online banking. Wells Fargo was the first institution to give customers the ability to open and fund an IRA online.

An addition to seeing the tax benefits of opening an IRA instantaneously, those customers who enroll at www.wellsfargo.com can take advantage of a twenty percent discount off TurboTax for the web.

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• "Wells Fargo Launches Small Company Value Fund," Dow Jones Newswires, January 31, 2002.

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• "Wells Fargo Mortgage Selects eLynx to Provide Secure Electronic Delivery," Dow Jones Newswires, January 25, 2002.

Wells Fargo delivered more than 40,000 closing packages in December via eLynx. They expect that number to grow throughout 2002. eLynx's WPS (Web Posting System) enables Wells Fargo to deliver closing packages in a fraction of the time and cost of courier services or overnight delivery. Recipients of the closing packages will need only Internet access and a web browser to retrieve and print their closing package.

Wells Fargo's selection of eLynx means that eLynx now has three of the top ten lenders and thirteen of the top fifty now using WPS as their primary electronic delivery service. eLynx was launched in June of 1999 with one customer and 800 deliveries per month. eLynx now serves 56 customers and delivers to 65,000 recipients nationwide.

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• "Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend," Dow Jones Newswires, January 22, 2002.

Wells Fargo and Company announced a quarterly common stock dividend of twenty-six cents per share. Wells Fargo has approximately 1.7 billion shares outstanding. The dividend will be payable on March 1, 2002 to all stock holders of record on February 1, 2002. Wells Fargo currently has $308 billion in assets.

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• Spasford, Jathon and Pacelle, Mitchell. "Citigroup's Enron Financing Stirs Controversy," The Wall Street Journal, January 16, 2002: C1.

Citigroup Inc. recently came to the rescue of loan needy Enron Corp. However, the loan came with a catch. Citigroup said they would provide $600 million of a $1 billion secured loan, as long as Enron agreed to use $250 million of the loan to pay off an existing unsecured loan they already owed Citigroup. Enron executives said that the company needed cash so badly that they had no choice but to go through with the transaction. Many bankers feel that this transaction was unfair. They felt as if Citigroup was using their role as a secured lender to improve the standing of their unsecured loans.

The problem with this transaction is that in court the pool of assets to be divided up between companies that provided unsecured loan will be smaller. However, if an unsecured debt is paid off within 90 days of a company filing for bankruptcy, the lending company can be charged with receiving preference over other lenders. These charges are often brought out late in the bankruptcy process.

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• Hechinger, John. "FleetBoston Weighs Quitting Argentina, Cheapest Option but Politically Riskier," The Wall Street Journal, January 18, 2002: A3.

FleetBoston executives are considering weather the bank should continue doing business in Argentina, where it has been for the past 85 years. The reason for this is a financial crisis that is ongoing in Argentina. The value of many of FleetBoston's loans in Argentina have been slashed because of Argentina's decision to devalue its peso by 29%. Analysts expect Fleetboston to report an after-tax charge of $400 million to $500 million because of the devaluation. This is a large chuck of the bank's $1.5 billion estimated earnings for 2001.

Many say that because of mysterious bank accounting, it could end up being cheaper for FleetBoston to to walk away from the Argentina business than it would be for them to write down its loans and continue operating. The bank currently has 137 offices and 4,000 employees in Argentina. FleetBoston also has to worry about losing credibility in other Latin American nations if they walk away from Argentina.

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• Mollenkamp, Carrick. "Bank of America Posts 49% Jump In Net, Gaining From Debt Unit," The Wall Street Journal, January 23, 2002: A2.

"It's like they're pulling rabbits out of their hat."

The formation of Strategic Solutions Inc. allowed Bank of America to shift about $3 billion in loans to them. This allowed the bank to generate a $418 million tax benefit in the latest quarter. The tax range for the bank, which was typically around 36%, dropped to about 17%.

Bank of America said it formed the new subsidiary to allow their employees focus on on how to deal with bad loans. However, many analysts are critical of the formation of Strategic Solutions Inc. One analyst said, "It's like they're pulling rabbits out of their hat. If you dig behind the numbers there are a lot of unusual items.

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• Sapsford, Jathon. "J.P. Morgan's Cliggot Will Leave To Join Sweedish Firm Brummer," The Wall Street Journal Interactive, February 14, 2002.

At the end of February J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. will lose Dougals Cliggott, their top investment strategist and a prominent Wall Street Bear. Cliggott is best known for his accurate calls on the U.S. stock market, which has stumbled in the last few years. Even though many strategists are predicting that corporate profits will increase throughout 2002, Cliggott predicts that the Standard & Poor 500 index will finish the year at a loss.

Cliggott is leaving to join the Swedish asset management firm Brummer & Partners. He will establish and head a research office in New York for Brummer. It will be the company's initial move to the U.S. Cliggott said, "My decision to leave J.P. Morgan was a personal one, but not an easy one."

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• "Banks Seek U.S. Help to Block State Consumer-Privacy Laws," The Wall Street Journal interactive, February 19, 2002.

The banking industry is looking for federal help to block state consumer-privacy laws. The banks feel these laws will hinder their ability to alert law enforcement of possible criminal activity. They have recently reached out to Homeland Security director Tom Ridge for help. The banking industry is hoping for a uniform privacy standard. This argument by banks is the latest development in the banking industry's long running struggle against information-sharing restrictions that have been appearing across the country. A few states have laws that permit banks to sell information only if accountholders approve. These laws are tougher than the federal law which allows banks to share information unless the customer tells them not to.

Many state officials feel that state laws already allow for the sharing of information with law enforcement. They feel that banks are using this argument as a cover for their true intention of selling consumer information for profit. One privacy activist said, "There is no element of security in having a bank or other financial institution sell or share or lease information to any source." Despite the banking industry's attempts any bill appears to be on the back burner unless a law-enforcemnt official or Mr. Ridge raise a concern.

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• Hechinger, John and Mollenkamp, Carrick. "J.P. Morgan, Others Have $14.4 Billion Exposure to Tyco," The Wall Street Journal, February 14, 2002: A8.

"...credit lines are the least visible area in banking"

Banks like to provide credit lines to companies because they are rarely used. Instead they generate fees and lead to investment banking. Companies usually set up credit lines in case they run into trouble borrowing in the commerical-paper market. Many critics are upset because of the huge off-balance-sheet contingent liabilities that heighten bank risks in a recession. One analyst said, "The huge undisclosed  credit lines are the least visible area in banking."

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• Bravin, Jess and Beckett, Paul. "Dependent on Lenders' Fees, the OCC

Takes Banks' Side Against Local Laws," The Wall Street Journal, January, 28, 2002: A1;A8.

Even though the OCC still regulates the bulk of the banking industry, when measured by assets, consolidation has made the bank increasingly reliant on a few major banks. For example, Bank of America pays $40 million a year in fees, this is about 10% of the agency's budget. Another reason for the OCC's stance may be history. "The OCC interprets the National Bank Act of 1863 as authorizing it to oppose any state or municipal attempt to interfere with the ability of nationally charted banks to engage in the business of banking."

To listen to a 2:30 segment on the ATM fee struggle click here.

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• Leung, Shirley. "Lower Rates, More Deposits Boost Banks," The Wall Street Journal, January 16, 2002: B2.

Lower interest rates that have lured customers into taking out mortgage loans have helped boost fourth quarter revenues at many banks. A weak stock market also prompted people to deposit  their money in banks instead of invest it in the stock market.

One bank industry analyst said that many banks are doing a better job at dealing with the current recession than they were a decade ago. She said, "We're now a couple of quarters in the recession, and banks have become more disciplined in their extension of credit." Wells Fargo, Fifth Third Bankcorp and Mellon all reported a rise in net income. While U.S. Bancorp saw net income fall because the company didn't realize gains from its bond portfolio as other banks did.

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Wells Fargo Stock Chart
Delayed 20 minutes or more

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