Scandals have been a part of Wall Street evolution for as long as I can remember.
There was Drexel and its junk bonds. There was Prudential and its limited partnerships. There was the conflicted analyst reports just after the tech bubble blew up in the year 2000. Many storied firms disappeared because of scandal, each going down in flames — Kidder Peabody, Salomon Brothers, and the list goes on. Each scandal was followed by new laws, rules and regulations. Let's call it the financial services warped form of creative destruction. It all culminated in the Great Recession parade of financial services CEOs getting grilled by Congress.
But the Wells Fargo scandal is different in one very important way — and especially in a way financial advisors should be thinking about it.