Wells Fargo Bank Branch Visits Declined In November

Wells Fargo & Co. said Friday that total bank branch transactions in November dropped 5% from October, and have declined 3% from the same period a year ago, primarily because of a slowdown in new account openings. The banking giant said the monthly update is part of its effort to be transparent, in the wake of the sales practices scandal that led to the resignation of former-Chief Executive John Stumpf. The bank said average consumer and small business deposit balances were "up modestly" from last month, while consumer checking account openings were down 9%. Point-of-sale debit card transactions fell 5% from October, but were up 7% from last year. A survey of recent branch visitors showed that overall satisfaction was 74.8%, up from 73.9% in October but down from 77.7% last year. The stock rallied 1% in premarket trade. It has gained 1.5% year to date through Thursday, while the SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF has run up 22% and the S&P 500 has gained 11%.