Expert Answer
We will describe the scandal of Wells Fargo which happened recently in 2016. The scandal was related to the employees of Wells Fargo creating fake customer accounts and creating fraudulent records regarding the customer base. Over 2 million phony customer records were found which did not have any valid base. The issue supposedly stemmed out of the bullish behavior of the management (the CEO in particular) who was almost forcing every employee to sell a least eight credit cards. The pressure was such intense that the employees were allowed to open credit card accounts without even having the consent of the customer. They were using their own contact to fill out the contact details so that the customers could not be able to catch the matter. Employees also created fraudulent checking and savings accounts, a process that sometimes involved the movement of money out of legitimate accounts. The unethical act happened due to the lack of duty to the stakeholders of the firm and it is a mistake from the top management. The board of directors, who assume the duty to protect the rights of the shareholders also have failed to perform such duty. Act unscrupulous selling practice was modeled in order to achieve a particular set of objective and that is why, from the point of Deontology, it is unethical because it violates the categorical imperative of Kant which states that any act is ethical only when it is done due to a good human will because that is the only thing beyond qualification.
The cost resulting from the practice was enormous. The aftermath resulted firing of 5300 employees between 2011 and 2016. The bank was enforced to return $2.6 million in ill-gotten fees and pay $186 million in fines to the government. But above all, the long-term effect of the loss of goodwill will have an enormous effect which is more than the monetary effect because it will not only cause harm to the bank but also the banking system and the economy.