Wells Fargo SWOT Analysis

Wells Fargo & Company, enlisted in NYSE as WFC, provides services through its banking in about 6000 branches in the U.S. The company’s financial segment comprises mainly on consumer finance and auto-finance operations.

Strengths:

• One of the leading and renowned banks in the financial sectors with a strong credit rating.

• Ranked as 19 in the Fortune 500 list (2010).

• Acquirement of Wachovia Corp has shown a major positive vibe in the company’s growth.

• Museums that have been made by the company that reflects the historical growth of the firm.

• Ranked as 39 for Fortune’s ‘World’s Most Admired Company’ (2010).

• Among the ‘Top 100 Companies’ according to Forbes.

• Among the World’s ‘50 Most Respected Companies’ according to Barron’s (2010).

• Ranked as America’s ‘2nd Most Generous Corporate Foundations’ according to BusinessWeek (2010).

• Ranked as America’s ‘#1 Green Bank and #13 Greenest Big Company’ according to Newsweek (2009).

• Scored a perfect 100 on Human Rights Campaign’s ‘Corporate Equality Index’ (2010).

• Ranked as U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ‘Top 20 Green Power Partner Companies’ (2009).

• Ranked as ‘#1 Commercial Real Estate Lender’ according to Mortgage Bankers Association (2009).

• America’s ‘#1 Large Bank for Customer Satisfaction’ according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (2009).

• Ranked as ‘#4 Most Innovative Business Technology Organization’ according to InformationWeek (2009).

• Renowned to be the ‘Best Consumer Internet Bank and Best Corporate/Institutional Internet Bank in North America’ by Global Finance (2010).

• Ranked as ‘#2 market share for primary correspondent bank relationships’ by FImetrix (2009).

• Gold ranking for mobile banking services in “2010 Mobile Banking Score card” according to Javelin Strategy & Research (2010).

• Ranked as ‘#1 Bank Brand in Customer Loyalty Engagement Index’ by Brand Keys (2010).

• Awarded for the firm’s ‘Exceptional Volunteerism’ by United Way of America (2010).

• The firm holds assets worth $1.2 trillion.

• The firm employs 278,000 team members.

• It has a customer base of 70,000,000 (2010).

• The firm has more than 9,000 stores and about 12,100 ATMs (2010).

• The firm has about 18 million combined active online customers and about 4 million combined active mobile customers (2010).

• Wells Fargo Insurance Inc. is one the largest agencies that is associated with a bank.

• Due to the vast diversification of providing a variety of services, the firm holds a firm cost advantage.

• High level Research and Development that also makes changes in the technologies of the firm and innovates on need basis in order to maintain their exposure.

• Stable online growth that shows positive vibe.

• The firm has very strong financial position.

• Real Estate is an important part regarding the revenue generation of the firm.

• The firm offers USPs (Unique Selling Propositions) that are in regard to the customer’s own well-being.

• It offers services in auto dealer and is also known as a nation wide provider of integrated services of the dealer community.

Weaknesses:

• Asset quality getting weak due to the high level of exposure of real estate.

• International presence is very limited.

• Inability to maintain the online system and the authentication had less security measures (2009).

• Low level of debit card market share which have become a major vehicle for making transactions.

Opportunities:

• New acquisitions such as acquiring JFK Consulting Group.

• Expansion in the international market.

• Takeovers of other small financial service providers.

• Population growth and the growing immigrant population.

• Commercial Banking Industry growth sustainability.

• Reduced competition due to the economic slowdown.

Threats:

• Regulations and legalities on contingent commission.

• Rising incidents regarding the online scams.

• US asset backed securities market meltdown.

• Consolidation in the U.S. banking industry.

• Rise in interest rates.

• Mortgage issues.

• Government Interventions.

References:
http://www.yousigma.com/comparativeanalysis/wellsfargo.html
http://banksavingsreview.com/wells-fargo-security-weakness/
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2010/snapshots/2578.html
http://www.wellsfargo.com/