Businessweek

Wells Fargo & Company, a financial services company, provides retail, commercial, and corporate banking services through banking stores and offices, the Internet, and other distribution channels to individuals, businesses, and institutions in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and in other countries. The company provides other financial services through subsidiaries engaged in various businesses, principally wholesale banking, mortgage banking, consumer finance, equipment leasing, agricultural finance, commercial finance, securities brokerage and investment banking, insurance agency and brokerage services, computer and data processing services, trust services, investment advisory services, mortgage-backed securities servicing, and venture capital investment. Segments The company operates through three operating segments: Community Banking; Wholesale Banking; and Wealth, Brokerage, and Retirement. Community Banking This segment offers a line of financial products and services for consumers and small businesses. This segment also offers investment management and other services to retail customers and securities brokerage through affiliates. These products and services include the Wells Fargo Advantage Funds, a family of mutual funds. Loan products include lines of credit, auto floor plan lines, equity lines and loans, equipment and transportation loans, education loans, origination and purchase of residential mortgage loans and servicing of mortgage loans and credit cards. Other credit products and financial services available to small businesses and their owners include equipment leases, real estate and other commercial financing, Small Business Administration financing, venture capital financing, cash management, payroll services, retirement plans, Health Savings Accounts, credit cards, and merchant payment processing. This segment also offers private label financing solutions for retail merchants across the United States and purchases retail installment contracts from auto dealers in the United States and Puerto Rico. Consumer and business deposit products include checking accounts, savings deposits, market rate accounts, Individual Retirement Accounts, time deposits, global remittance, and debit cards. This segment serves customers through a range of channels, including traditional banking stores, in-store banking centers, business centers, ATMs, online and mobile banking, and Wells Fargo Customer Connection, a 24-hours a day, 7 days a week telephone service. Wholesale Banking This segment provides financial solutions to businesses across the United States and internationally. This segment provides a line of commercial, corporate, capital markets, cash management, and real estate banking products and services. These include traditional commercial loans and lines of credit, letters of credit, asset-based lending, equipment leasing, international trade facilities, trade financing, collection services, foreign exchange services, treasury management, investment management, institutional fixed-income sales, interest rate, commodity and equity risk management, insurance, corporate trust fiduciary and agency services, and investment banking services, as well as online/electronic products, such as the Commercial Electronic Office portal. This segment manages customer investments through institutional separate accounts and mutual funds, including the Wells Fargo Advantage Funds and Wells Capital Management. This segment also supports the commercial real estate market with products and services, such as construction loans for commercial and residential development, land acquisition and development loans, secured and unsecured lines of credit, interim financing arrangements for completed structures, rehabilitation loans, affordable housing loans and letters of credit, permanent loans for securitization, commercial real estate market loan servicing, and real estate and mortgage brokerage services. Wealth, Brokerage, and Retirement This segment provides a range of financial advisory services to clients using a planning approach to meet each client’s needs. Wealth Management provides affluent