Federal regulators moved to lift their punishment against Wells Fargo that prevented its growth following the bank’s fake accounts scandal in 2018.

The Federal Reserve Board of Governors voted Monday to remove an unprecedented restriction that had capped the bank’s assets at approximately $1.95 trillion. The Federal Reserve’s original order pointed to “widespread consumer abuses and compliance breakdowns” after Wells Fargo disclosed its bankers had opened millions of unauthorized customer accounts.

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Wells Fargo will now be able to grow its balance sheet and redirect resources it had been allocating to fix the company. The fourth largest bank in the U.S. will now have the same privileges as other banks and be able to gather deposits, increase loans to companies and households, and make acquisitions. 

The Federal Reserve said its move “reflects the substantial progress the bank has made in addressing its deficiencies.”

When Richard Kovacevich took over the bank in the 1998 merger with Norwest, he advocated for Wells Fargo to sell eight products on average to each customer, which he called the “Gr-eight” initiative. John Stumpf, who succeeded Kovacevich in 2007, also supported the initiative. 

Behind the scenes, however, Wells Fargo was entangled in an aggressive sales culture to push for results. Between 2009 and 2016, around 3.5 million accounts were opened that may have been unauthorized, Wells Fargo said. In that, tens of thousands of these accounts resulted in fees and charges for customers. 

“Spurred by sales targets and compensation incentives, employees boosted sales figures by covertly opening accounts,” the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said in 2016.

WELLS FARGO WORKER SAT AT DESK FOR DAYS BEFORE BEING DISCOVERED DEAD

Wells Fargo said the removal of the asset cap was “a pivotal milestone” in the company’s transformation. It said it would give full-time employees a $2,000 bonus.

“We are a different and far stronger company today because of the work we’ve done,” Charlie Scharf, the bank’s third CEO since the peak of the scandal, said in a statement. “We are excited to continue to move forward with plans to further increase returns and growth in a deliberate manner supported by the processes and cultural changes we have made.”