Wells Faces Backlash After Meeting Cancellation

Wells Fargo has gotten some backlash from industry supporters after canceling a scaled-backed mortgage employee recognition event "in light of the current environment" and in response to what the company called a "misleading" Associated Press report. According to Wells, the report suggested the expenditure was inappropriate given that the company, like many of its peers, has been under financial duress and accepted public money. The company said the meeting was one of the few pre-planned events for 2009 it had not cancelled only because there was no "meaningful" savings to be derived from it. Wells also noted that the government has encouraged that the public funds it received be used for lending and the originators that had been invited to the event, in combination with their colleagues, had produced $230 billion in mortgages during 2008. "Last quarter alone, we made $22 billion in loan commitments and $50 billion in mortgage originations. That's more than $70 billion or almost three times the amount of the U.S. Treasury's investment in Wells Fargo," the company said. Industry supporters, such as author Scott McKain, criticized such cancellations as set backs to go-forward company efforts to compete in the market and improve its finances. Many commentators, however, lambasted the lender for what they felt was a totally inappropriate junket after receiving $25 billion in taxpayer funds.