Wells Fargo Agrees To Settle $110M Lawsuit In Discrimination Settlement
Wells Fargo will settle a $100 million lawsuit alleging discrimination in loan approvals and misrepresentation over its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts, according to Banking Dive. The lawsuit states that Wells Fargo approved less than 50% of Back homeowners’ refinancing applications in 2020. It also stated that the bank held fake job interviews with women […] The post Wells Fargo Agrees To Settle $110M Lawsuit In Discrimination Settlement appeared first on POCIT. Telling the stories and thoughts of the underrepresented in tech..
Black News 
Wells Fargo will settle a $100 million lawsuit alleging discrimination in loan approvals and misrepresentation over its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts, according to Banking Dive.
The lawsuit states that Wells Fargo approved less than 50% of Back homeowners’ refinancing applications in 2020. It also stated that the bank held fake job interviews with women and people of color to satisfy internal DEI requirements, without a genuine intent to hire them.
The settlement
The bank has agreed to pay $110 million, of which $100 million will go towards the Borrower Assistance Fund to ensure people on low- and moderate-income receive mortgage assistance in an effort to establish a “more inclusive housing system,” according to the office of Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy.
Sham Interviews to meet diversity targets
The class-action suit stems from New York Times reports in 2022 that claimed Wells Fargo managers were instructed to conduct “sham” interviews for roles that were already filled. These interviews were allegedly conducted solely to meet the bank’s “diverse slate” hiring policy requirements.
Introduced in 2020, the policy mandated that at least 50% of interviewees for US-based roles paying $100,000 or more must be women, people of color, veterans, LGBTQ individuals, or people with disabilities. However, whistleblowers from inside the company claimed that the process had become more performative than inclusive.
Following the reports, Wells Fargo’s stock price dropped 10.2% over two days, resulting in a $17 billion loss in market value.
Image: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
The post Wells Fargo Agrees To Settle $110M Lawsuit In Discrimination Settlement appeared first on POCIT. Telling the stories and thoughts of the underrepresented in tech..
