Wells Fargo's Stock Takes a Dive After News That Unauthorized Accounts Created Could Be More Than Expected

Wells Fargo & Co.'s stock took a dive in afternoon trade Friday, after the bank disclosed that the number of authorized accounts created during the customer account scandal could be a lot higher than previously thought. The stock was down about 0.2% a little after 2:00 p.m. ET, then tumbled to be down as much as 2.8%, before recovering slightly to be down 1.1% in recent trade. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the bank stated that a review of sales practices, which is expected to completed by the end of the third quarter, "may lead to a significant increase in the identified number of potentially unauthorized accounts." Wells Fargo said it expanded the review period to January 2011 through September 2016 from May 2011 to mid-2015, and will perform a voluntary review of accounts from 2009 to 2010. The bank also disclosed that the board of directors is reviewing its structure, composition and practices, and will announce actions to take in the third quarter. The stock has lost 4.2% year to date, while the SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF has climbed 9.1% and the S&P 500 has gained 10.5%.

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