"Wells Fargo, with its good standing after a year of widespread write-downs and a rapidly slowing economy, would likely be at the top of the list as a suitor for many banks. It's the only one of the nation's five largest banks to have maintained a AAA credit rating from Moody's and Standard & Poor's.Still, the San Francisco newspaper reported Stumpf said he would be willing to risk that rare designation in exchange for the chance to snap up a target at a bargain price."Our triple-A rating is the result of how we run the company," the executive told the paper. "We don't run the company to please Moody's and S&P. We do the right thing for the business. If how we run the company doesn't justify the rating, we'll live with that.""
