page_title: Wells Fargo
section_title: Key dates
hierarchical_section_title: Wells Fargo / History / Key dates
caption_attribution_description: English: A 19th Century Wells Fargo Bank replica located on the grounds of Superstition Mountain Museum located at 2087 N. Apache Trail in Apache Junction, Az.
context_page_description: Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company headquartered in San Francisco, California, with central offices throughout the United States. It is the world's fourth-largest bank by market capitalization and the fourth largest bank in the US by total assets. Wells Fargo is ranked number 26 on the 2018 Fortune 500 rankings of the largest US corporations by total revenue.
  In July 2015, Wells Fargo became the world's largest bank by market capitalization, edging past ICBC, before slipping behind JPMorgan Chase in September 2016, in the wake of a scandal involving the creation of over 2 million fake bank accounts and illegal manipulation of other accounts by Wells Fargo employees. Wells Fargo fell behind Bank of America to third by bank deposits in 2017 and behind Citigroup to fourth by total assets in 2018. Wells Fargo is incorporated in Delaware.
  The firm's primary operating subsidiary is national bank Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., which designates its main office as Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
context_section_description: 1852: Henry Wells and William G. Fargo, the two founders of American Express, formed Wells Fargo & Company to provide express and banking services to California.
  1860: Wells Fargo gained control of Butterfield Overland Mail Company, leading to operation of the western portion of the Pony Express.
  1866: "Grand consolidation" united Wells Fargo, Holladay, and Overland Mail stage lines under the Wells Fargo name.
  1872: Lloyd Tevis, a friend of the Central Pacific "Big Four" and holder of rights to operate an express service over the Transcontinental Railroad, acquires control of the company.
  1905: Wells Fargo separated its banking and express operations; Wells Fargo's bank was merged with the Nevada National Bank to form the Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank.
  1918: As a wartime measure, the US Federal Government nationalized Wells Fargo's express franchise into a federal agency known as the US Railway Express Agency. The US Federal Government took control of the express company. The bank began rebuilding but with a focus on commercial markets. After the war, REA was privatized and continued service until 1975.
  1923: Wells Fargo Nevada merged with the Union Trust Company to form the Wells Fargo Bank & Union Trust Company.
  1929: Northwest Bancorporation was formed as a banking association.
  1954: Wells Fargo & Union Trust shortened its name to Wells Fargo Bank.
  1960: Wells Fargo merged with American Trust Company to form the Wells Fargo Bank American Trust Company.
  1962: Wells Fargo American Trust again shortened its name to Wells Fargo Bank.
  1968: Wells Fargo converted to a federal banking charter, becoming Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. Wells Fargo merged with Henry Trione's Sonoma Mortgage in a $10.8 million stock transfer, making Trione the largest shareholder in Wells Fargo until Warren Buffett and Walter Annenberg later surpassed him.
  1969: Wells Fargo & Company holding company was formed, with Wells Fargo Bank as its main subsidiary.
  1982: Northwest Bancorporation acquired consumer finance firm Dial Finance which is renamed Norwest Financial Service the following year.
  1983: Northwest Bancorporation was renamed Norwest Corporation.
  1983: White Eagle, largest US bank heist to date took place at a Wells Fargo depot in West Hartford, Connecticut.
  1986: Wells Fargo acquired Crocker National Corporation from Midland Bank.
  1987: Wells Fargo acquired the personal trust business of Bank of America.
  1988: Wells Fargo acquired Barclays Bank of California from Barclays plc.
  1995: Wells Fargo became the first major US financial services firm to offer Internet banking.
  1996: Wells Fargo acquired First Interstate Bancorp for US$11.6 billion.
  1998: Wells Fargo Bank was acquired by Norwest Corporation of Minneapolis.  (Norwest was the surviving company; however, it chose to continue business under the more well-known Wells Fargo name.)
  2000: Wells Fargo Bank acquired National Bank of Alaska.
  2000: Wells Fargo acquired First Security Corporation.
  2001: Wells Fargo acquired H.D. Vest Financial Services for US$128 million, but sold it in 2015 for US$580 million.
  2007: Wells Fargo acquired CIT's construction unit.
  2007: Wells Fargo acquired Placer Sierra Bank.
  2007: Wells Fargo acquired Greater Bay Bancorp, which had US$7.4 billion in assets, in a US$1.5 billion transaction.
  2008: Wells Fargo acquired United Bancorporation of Wyoming.
  2008: Wells Fargo acquired Century Bancshares of Texas.
  2008: Wells Fargo acquired Wachovia Corporation.
  2009: Wells Fargo acquired North Coast Surety Insurance Services.
  2012: Wells Fargo acquired Merlin Securities.
  2012: Wells Fargo acquired stake in The Rock Creek Group LP.
  2019: CEO Tim Sloan resigns causing stock to jump and leaves General Counsel C. Allen Parker as Interim CEO. On September 27, Charles Scharf is announced as the firm's new CEO.
caption: A late 19th Century Wells Fargo Bank in Apache Junction, Arizona
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