Wells Fargo will announce the completion of an expanded third-party review of the fake consumer accounts its workers had opened "within a few weeks", CNBC reports. The results of this review will "generate news headlines," Wells Fargo CEO Timothy Sloan said yesterday in a company-wide message that was shared in a press release. The bank said it has already paid out more than US$5 million to customers. This year, Wells Fargo also reached a preliminary class-action settlement of US$142 million over retail sales practices and unauthorised accounts dating back to 2002, according to CNBC. UK sub-prime lender Provident Financial had almost £2 billion wiped off its market value after its second profit warning in quick succession prompted the departure of CEO Peter Crook and suspension of its dividend, Reuters reported earlier this week. The downturn came about through what Reuters called "unresolved problems at Provident's door-to-door lending business." Shares in Provident tumbled by as much as 75 percent, the biggest fall on Europe's Stoxx index. It has been unable to recruit enough people for its plan to replace the 5,000 or so external agents with 2,500 direct employees. These inadequate staff-retention incentives have resulted in lower sales and a debt-collection backlog, Reuters notes.