Wells Fargo fires 5,300 employees for fraud

Wells Fargo has been fined $185million (£139million), and has fired 5,300 employees for committing pervasive fraud from 2011.

The scandal saw employees open credit cards on customers’ accounts without consent. Employees then moved funds from customers' existing accounts into newly-created ones without their knowledge or consent, and forced customers to accumulate late fees, according to regulators.

Customers then faced charges for insufficient funds or overdraft fees as their original accounts did not have enough money.  The investigation by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said this practice was "widespread," – CNN reports.

They also created fake emails and pin numbers to sign up unaware customers to online banking services. In total, Wells opened 1.5 million bank accounts and applied for 565,000 credit cards unbeknown to their customers.