San Francisco– Wells Fargo & Company and the Los Angeles Consul General of Colombia said that Wells Fargo will be the first financial institution to accept Colombia’s “Consular Registry Card” as one of the valid forms of primary identification for new account openings and over-the-counter customer transactions at its more than 3,100 retail banking stores in 23 states.

To comply with the U.S. Patriot Act, Wells Fargo requires that prospective customers opening an account have two forms of valid identification, in addition to a Social Security Number or an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, to open an account. The security features of consular cards from Colombia, Mexico, Argentina and Guatemala are similar to U.S. state-issued driver’s licenses or state identification cards.

Wells Fargo was the first bank to accept the Mexican matricula card in 2001 and the first in 2002 to accept the Guatemalan and Argentinean consular cards as valid identification. Since then, Wells Fargo has opened more than 750,000 accounts for customers using a consular identification card from Mexico, Guatemala or Argentina.

“The fact that a financial institution of Wells Fargo’s stature will accept the Consular Registry Card of Colombia is an indication of the document’s security and potential,” said Myriam Beltran de Forero, consul general of Colombia in Los Angeles. “The acceptance of the card acknowledges the positive role immigrants are having through their perseverance and hard work to help build the future of the United States and also of Colombia.”

The Colombian government will start issuing the Consular Registry Card to Colombian citizens residing in the United States on May 1, 2006 through its local consulate offices throughout the United States. It is estimated there are about 1.5 million Colombians residing in the United States.

“We want Latinos to know Wells Fargo welcomes their business and wants to be the financial services company of choice for all communities,” said John Stumpf, president and chief operating officer. “Like the Mexican, Guatemalan and Argentinian consular cards, the Colombian Consular Registry Card meets all of the U.S. government’s and Wells Fargo’s requirements as a valid form of primary identification.”

Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified financial services company with $482 billion in assets, providing banking, insurance, investments, mortgage and consumer finance to more than 23 million customers from more than 6,200 stores and the internet (wellsfargo.com) across North America and elsewhere internationally. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. is the only bank in the United States to receive the highest possible credit rating, “Aaa,” from Moody’s Investors Service.