U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), chair of the House Financial Services Committee, is urging federal regulators to investigate recent allegations made against Wells Fargo.
The allegations say that the bank denied Black refinancing applicants when interest rates were at their lowest and hosted “mock” interviews with diverse candidates to pad diversity numbers.
“I write today to share my profound disappointment and significant concerns regarding the ongoing actions by one of America’s largest megabanks, Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo has been under scrutiny by the Financial Services Committee and by your agencies in recent years for a myriad of reasons, including creating almost 3.5 million unauthorized consumer accounts, charging customers for auto insurance policies they did not need, ripping off veterans by overcharging them for refinance loans, and multiple class-action suits regarding discrimination against people of color, people with disabilities, and other protected individuals,” Waters wrote in a letter to regulators.
The letter was addressed to Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge, Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Acting Director Martin Gruenberg, and Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu.
“The need for warnings and “cost of doing business fines” have long passed. The asset cap imposed by now-Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has failed to force the bank to change its behavior. Despite Mr. Scharf’s leadership, Wells Fargo continues to display a troubling pattern of bad behavior with an inability to competently redress such patterns,” Waters wrote.