Decision is in line with the company’s mission to simplify and streamline product offerings to better serve customers
Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) announced today that it will exit the
Personal Insurance business and immediately begin winding down marketing
and product promotion activity. The decision comes after a strategic
assessment of the business, which began in early October 2017.
“Wells Fargo continually reviews our product and service offerings to
ensure they meet our customers’ needs and align with the company’s
long-term strategic goals,” said Laurie Nordquist, head of Personal
Insurance. “The decision to exit the Personal Insurance business
reflects these practices, and we will wind down operations in a measured
and responsible way for our existing customers.”
In December 2015, Wells Fargo announced
the sale of its crop insurance business, Rural Community Insurance
Services, and its subsidiary Rural Community Insurance Company, to
Zurich American Insurance Company, a subsidiary of Zurich Insurance
Group. The sale was completed in 2016. On June 27, 2017, Wells Fargo announced
the sale of Wells Fargo Insurance Services USA to USI Insurance
Services, a leading local and national insurance brokerage and
consulting firm. In conjunction with the sale of the commercial
brokerage business, the remaining Personal Insurance business became
part of Wells Fargo’s Consumer Lending division. On November 9, 2017,
Wells Fargo Insurance, Inc. announced
that it had signed a purchase agreement with Hub International Limited,
a leading global insurance brokerage to sell its crop insurance broker
business.
Since 2003, Wells Fargo has offered auto, homeowners, renters and
umbrella personal insurance products to consumers and anticipates
completing the exit process during the first quarter of 2018. Until that
time, Wells Fargo will continue to make available its suite of Personal
Insurance products, in addition to servicing and managing customer
policies.
The Personal Insurance business is the last remaining insurance
brokerage agency in Wells Fargo’s portfolio, and its financial
contribution was not material to the company. This decision does not
impact Wells Fargo’s Wealth and Investment Management’s life insurance
practice.
In the coming weeks and months, Wells Fargo will provide information and
updates to customers as the company takes steps to exit the business.
About Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a diversified, community-based
financial services company with $1.9 trillion in assets. Wells Fargo’s
vision is to satisfy our customers’ financial needs and help them
succeed financially. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco,
Wells Fargo provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and
consumer and commercial finance through more than 8,400 locations,
13,000 ATMs, the internet (wellsfargo.com) and mobile banking, and has
offices in 42 countries and territories to support customers who conduct
business in the global economy. With approximately 268,000 team members,
Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells
Fargo & Company was ranked No. 25 on Fortune’s 2017 rankings of
America’s largest corporations. News, insights and perspectives from
Wells Fargo are also available at Wells
Fargo Stories.
Cautionary Statement About Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements about our future
financial performance and business. Because forward-looking statements
are based on our current expectations and assumptions regarding the
future, they are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties. Do not
unduly rely on forward-looking statements as actual results could differ
materially from expectations. Forward-looking statements speak only as
of the date made, and we do not undertake to update them to reflect
changes or events that occur after that date. For information about
factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our
expectations, refer to our reports filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, including the discussion under “Risk Factors” in
our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016, as
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available on its
website at www.sec.gov.