Risks Relating To An
Investment In Wells Fargo’s Debt Securities, Including The
Notes
The Notes Are Subject To The
Credit Risk Of Wells Fargo.
The notes are our obligations and are not,
either directly or indirectly, an obligation of any third party.
Any amounts payable under the notes are subject to our
creditworthiness. As a result, our actual and perceived
creditworthiness may affect the value of the notes and, in the
event we were to default on our obligations, you may not receive
any amounts owed to you under the terms of the
notes.
Our Ability To Service Our
Debt, Including The Notes, May Be Limited By The Results Of
Operations Of Our Subsidiaries And Certain Contractual
Arrangements.
We conduct substantially all of our
activities and operations through our subsidiaries and are a
separate and distinct legal entity from those subsidiaries. We
receive substantially all of our funding and liquidity from
dividends, loans and other distributions from our subsidiaries. We
generally use these funds, among other sources, to satisfy our
financial obligations, including principal and interest on our
debt, including the notes. In addition to limitations under laws
and regulations applicable to us and our subsidiaries (as discussed
below), funds available to us from our subsidiaries will be
contingent upon the financial performance and condition of those
subsidiaries. Adverse business or economic conditions, such as
changes in interest rates and financial market values, could affect
the businesses and the results of operations of our subsidiaries
and, therefore, adversely affect the sources of funds available to
us.
In addition, our right to participate in a
distribution of assets upon a subsidiary’s liquidation or
reorganization, and thus the ability of a holder of our debt
securities (including the notes) to benefit indirectly from such
distributions, is subject to the prior claims of the subsidiary’s
creditors. This subordination of creditors of a parent company to
prior claims of creditors of its subsidiaries is commonly referred
to as structural subordination. Furthermore, our rights as a
creditor of our subsidiaries may be subordinate to any security
interest in the assets of those subsidiaries and any obligations of
those subsidiaries senior to those held by us.
As discussed further below, federal
banking regulators require measures to facilitate the continued
operation of operating subsidiaries notwithstanding the failure of
their parent companies, and our ability to receive funds from our
subsidiaries may be limited by the Support Agreement discussed in
the following risk factors. Further, dividend payments to us from
our subsidiaries may also be restricted if specified liquidity
and/or capital metrics fall below defined triggers or if our board
of directors authorizes us to file a case under the U.S. Bankruptcy
Code.
The Resolution Of Wells Fargo
Under The Orderly Liquidation Authority Could Result In Greater
Losses For Holders Of Our Debt Securities, Including The Notes,
Particularly If A Single-Point-Of-Entry Strategy Is
Used.
Your ability to recover the full amount
that would otherwise be payable on our debt securities (including
the notes) in a proceeding under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code may be
impaired by the exercise by the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation (the “FDIC”)
of its powers under the “orderly liquidation authority” under
Title II of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer
Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank
Act”). In particular, the single point of
entry strategy described below is intended to impose losses at the
top-tier holding company level in the resolution of a Global
Systemically Important Bank (“G-SIB”)
such as Wells Fargo.
Title II of the Dodd-Frank Act created a
new resolution regime known as the “orderly liquidation authority”
to which financial companies, including bank holding companies such
as Wells Fargo, can be subjected. Under the orderly liquidation
authority, the FDIC may be appointed as receiver for a financial
company for purposes of liquidating the entity if, upon the
recommendation of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
System (the “FRB”)
and the FDIC, the United States Secretary of the Treasury
determines, among other things, that the entity is in severe
financial distress, that the entity’s failure would have serious
adverse effects on the U.S. financial system and that resolution
under the orderly liquidation authority would avoid or mitigate
those effects. Absent such determinations, Wells Fargo, as a bank
holding company, would remain subject to the U.S. Bankruptcy
Code.
If the FDIC is appointed as receiver under
the orderly liquidation authority, then the orderly liquidation
authority, rather than the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, would determine
the powers of the receiver and the rights and obligations of
creditors and other parties who have transacted with Wells Fargo.
There are substantial differences between the rights available to
creditors in the orderly liquidation authority and under the U.S.
Bankruptcy Code, including the