US Senator Elizabeth Warren has written a letter to the Federal Reserve urging it to revoke Wells Fargo’s status as a financial holding company.

The Senator, who is Chair of Senate Banking Committee, Subcommittee on Economic Policy, has asked the central authority to split Wells Fargo’s bank subsidiary from its other financial activities.

This follows Wells Fargo receiving a civil money penalty from a regulator, which issued a fine of $250m and placed restrictions on the bank’s business.

The Senator called Wells Fargo “an irredeemable repeat offender” and presented several examples of lender’s financial misconduct.

Warren added: “Every single day that Wells Fargo continues to maintain these depository accounts is a day that millions of customers remain at risk of additional negligence and willful fraud.

“The only way these consumers and their bank accounts can be kept safe is through another institution—one whose business model is not dependent on swindling customers for every last penny they can get. The Fed has the power to put consumers first, and it must use it.”

The lender put out a press note highlighting its efforts and steps taken to meet the regulator’s requirement.

Wells Fargo said: “We are a different bank today than we were five years ago because we’ve made significant progress.”

In a separate development, several media outlets reported citing an internal memo that Wells Fargo has pushed back the return-to-office date for employees to 1 November 2021.