Wells Fargo is one of the largest financial institutions in the United States with branches internationally. Its consumer banking provides personal accounts and business banking. It provides mortgages, personal loans, credit cards, students’ loans among other credit services. It’s personal banking also has insurance, investment wealth management, retirement and rewards and benefits plans for the customers. It was named the 2015 bank of the year because of its financial strength, culture and leadership. It was ranked fifth regarding profitability in the year 2014. Its tier capital is ranked eighth in the world. It is indeed one of the largest banks in the world, and its consumer base is appealing. It serves one in every three households in the United States. (wellsfargo.com)
Wells Fargo has been at the forefront of innovation by being unique. Its headquarters, unlike other financial institutions, are in San Francisco. Their competitors prefer New York, which is the financial hub. The bank entered the digital banking era when others were reluctant to venture there. The bank’s operations revolve around their customers rather than the products. Its operational policy is that the consumer should spend less time dealing with banking. He or she should rather spend time running his or her business. Therefore, the bank has embraced technology to create value for its customers (Satell, 2014).
The bank’s vision centers on the customer. It states “we want to satisfy all of our customers’ financial needs, help them succeed financially, be the premier provider of financial services in every one of our markets, and be known as one of America’s great companies.” The bank takes the customer as the center of everything it does. It gives financial advice to its customers and satisfies all the customer’s needs. The aim of the bank is for the customer to succeed financially. The decisions by the bank are made from the perspective of the customer. The intent is to make the customer feel part of the bank’s team (Kovacevich, 2006).
The bank has much strength, one of which is a strong brand name. That makes the bank operate and introduce products under the same brand. One of the perfect examples of this is the security and courier services, which are doing well worldwide. Its primary weakness lies in the bank’s lack of global acclaim in comparison to its competitors. That makes the banking sector for the brand to be less competitive globally. In fact, many people outside America may not be aware of its banking services. It, however, has an opportunity to expand in other countries especially where its security and courier services are known but the changing government regulations remain a major threat for Wells Fargo. The implication being that the banking sector may find it hard to expand as fast as it would wish (Mbaskool.com).
The main competitors of Wells Fargo banking division are JPMorgan Chase and Co, CitiGroup Inc and Bank of America Corporation. The competitiveness is based on products offered to customers including credit, value for customers and innovation (Hoovers.com). The competitiveness of each of these banking institutions also focuses on the profitability of each and their growth prospects. Wells Fargo has indeed faced worthy competitors in these rivals especially in the share of the customer base.
In conclusion, it remains to be seen the strategies Wells Fargo can take to get a competitive advantage over its major competitors. Its lack of existence in other countries puts it in a disadvantaged position since it cannot tap at the strong global market.
