A Wells Fargo branch in New York. (Photo: Bloomberg)
Wells Fargo's online and mobile banking services are down Thursday, six days after a similar outage. Customers reported their debit cards being declined.
The website of Wells Fargo Advisors had this posting for investor clients up throughout the day: "Some customers may be experiencing issues accessing online and mobile banking. We apologize for any inconvenience."
On Wells Fargo's webpage as of 2:45 p.m. Eastern Time, bank clients were being told: "We're experiencing some technical difficulties. We apologize for the inconvenience as some of our web pages are temporarily unavailable. You can still access your accounts through one of the links below … ."
At 12:45 p.m. Eastern Time, the bank said on Twitter: "We're experiencing system issues due to a power shutdown at one of our facilities, initiated after smoke was detected following routine maintenance. We're working to restore services as soon as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience."
This message came about four hours after Wells Fargo, which has about 70 million customers worldwide, first asked clients for patience early Thursday.
According to ABC/Fox News in Montana, the affected bank facility is a server farm in Shoreview, Minnesota, which reported activation of its fire-suppression system.
As was the case last week, there was plenty of outrage about Wells Fargo's system outage on Twitter.
Please give your customers an update! We at least deserve that. It's been hours and my son is stuck with no way to access money. He even went into a branch but they can't access accounts either. I understand system issues happen but your PR team needs to at least be responding!
— Shannon S (@ShannonSukovaty) February 7, 2019
My money is so secure at #wellsfargo, not even I can access it! #WellsFargodown
— PhyloFilms (@PhyloFilms) February 7, 2019
Meanwhile, Bitcoin enthusiasts took advantage of the chance to tout the benefits of decentralized networks.
New Leadership
The tech problems come only about two weeks after new leadership was hired with the aim of improving the bank's image and accountability after several years of scandals and negative headlines.
(Click here for A Timeline of the Wells Fargo Scandals)
Steve Troutner — who earlier worked at Citigroup, Bank of America and Wachovia — was tapped to head the community bank's U.S. Western region. Nyron Latif from Goldman Sachs became head of operations for wealth and investment-management unit.
And it appears that the addition of a new head of technology may need to be sped up. Wells Fargo named Saul Van Beurden, who recently was JPMorgan's chief information officer of consumer and community banking, to the post in January. But at the time, the bank said he would not be on board until April.
Q4 Earnings
Fourth-quarter results at Wells Fargo were a mixed bag, as the bank topped earnings estimates but fell short on revenue. Its advisor headcount dropped again, and CEO Tim Sloan says the bank will operate under Federal Reserve-imposed growth restrictions through year-end.
As of Dec. 30, Wells Fargo has 13,968 advisors, down nearly 600 from a year ago and over 100 from the prior quarter. Since the bank's fake-accounts scandal erupted in fall 2016, when it had 15,086 registered reps, the bank's wealth unit has lost 1,118 advisors.
— Check out When Will Wells Fargo's Scandals End? on ThinkAdvisor.
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