Wells Fargo has begun an "extensive review" of the way it closes customers' accounts and the fees it charges some customers even after their accounts are supposedly closed, its chief executive, C. Allen Parker, said in a letter to Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
The letter was written Friday, the same day that Warren asked regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, to look into the matter.
The practice, which was described in a New York Times article last month, charged customers hundreds or even thousands of dollars in overdraft fees in the weeks after Wells Fargo informed them that it was closing their accounts. The bank ignored complaints that at least two employees raised about the practice.
It is the latest in a series of scandals that have cost Wells Fargo $1.5 billion in penalties and have prompted the Federal Reserve to bar the company from growing until it can fix its culture.
Warren, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, has been one of Wall Street's fiercest critics in the Senate. In a letter to Parker on Aug. 19, she said learning about the account closings and fees had led her to fear that "Wells Fargo is still fundamentally broken."
In his response, Parker said the bank was looking into the matter. "We are also working closely with our regulators in this area," he said. "Once we have completed our review and our discussions with our regulators, we would plan to provide you with an update."
Warren sent letters last week to the comptroller of the currency, Joseph M. Otting, and to the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Jay Clayton, with questions about how the regulators were planning to respond to the Times article. Warren asked Clayton to investigate whether Wells Fargo had misled investors by reporting any fees collected on the closed accounts as revenue.