New HOPE Inside centers in select Wells Fargo branches increase
access to financial education and guidance
Wells Fargo and Operation HOPE, Inc., a national non-profit
dedicated to financial empowerment for underserved communities,
today announced plans to introduce HOPE Inside centers in 20
markets that will serve as many as 150 Wells Fargo branches and
their surrounding communities across the United States by the end
of 2023. The new HOPE Inside centers will feature Operation HOPE
financial coaches who will help empower community members to
achieve their financial goals through financial education workshops
and free one-on-one coaching.
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Starting in April, the first HOPE Inside centers will be
launched in the Atlanta, Houston and Oakland markets. By the end of
2022, HOPE Inside centers will be expanded to Los Angeles,
Minneapolis, New York, Newark, N.J., Camden, N.J., Phoenix and
Gallup, N.M.
HOPE Inside is part of Wells Fargo’s Banking Inclusion
Initiative to help more people who are unbanked gain access to
affordable, mainstream banking products, and help remove barriers
to financial inclusion for Black and African American, Hispanic,
and Native American/Alaska Native households, which account for
more than half of unbanked households in the United States.
“We know from our outreach and work with national and community
stakeholders that financial education and guidance, and an
individual’s sense of inclusion and trust, are all important
factors in bringing more people who are unbanked into the formal
banking system,” said Darlene Goins, head of Wells Fargo’s Banking
Inclusion Initiative. “Working with Operation HOPE is one important
way that we can remove barriers to financial inclusion and help
empower people with education, resources and tools to manage their
money, improve their credit and achieve their financial goals.”
“The Wells Fargo HOPE Inside centers mark a significant step
forward in addressing barriers to financial wealth in diverse
communities by offering a welcoming space, access to financial
coaches, and expanded resources that support the financial goals of
individuals with the greatest needs,” said John Hope Bryant,
Chairman and CEO, Operation HOPE, Inc. “This collaborative effort
can drive meaningful change and ultimately help address the deeply
rooted barriers to financial empowerment in underserved
communities.”
Introducing redesigned community branches
Along with the HOPE Inside launch, Wells Fargo is redesigning
branches in select low- and moderate-income (LMI) areas throughout
the United States to better meet the needs of the community. The
updated community branches will offer spaces for financial health
seminars, and individual consultations, such as those offered by
Operation HOPE. Employees in these branches reflect the diversity
and cultures of the communities and offer in-language service. New
tools will be available to inform and empower customers about
digital features that help make banking easier, like mobile check
deposit.
The first redesigned Wells Fargo community branches are expected
to be completed in 2022 in Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, Camden,
N.J., Newark, N.J., New York City, San Francisco Bay Area, Phoenix
metro areas, Arizona and New Mexico border region communities.
Banking Inclusion Initiative progress
Since introducing the Banking Inclusion Initiative in May 2021,
Wells Fargo has organized the National Unbanked Task Force and
collaborated with multiple national and community stakeholders to
pursue solutions that increase access to affordable products,
digital banking and financial guidance within unbanked
communities.
Wells Fargo has teamed with the Cities for Financial Empowerment
(CFE) Fund and its local Bank On coalitions in Atlanta and Houston
to test new strategies and approaches that increase access to
affordable banking products. Starting in late 2021, Wells Fargo and
the CFE Fund have pursued new marketing approaches to reach
unbanked consumers and increase awareness of the value and safety
of mainstream banking in LMI areas of Atlanta, Houston and
Philadelphia. The initial campaign included paid social media
posts, videos and advertising in each market.
Other actions Wells Fargo has taken in the first 10 months of
the initiative include:
- Announced the elimination of Overdraft Protection transfer fees
and non-sufficient funds fees as well as additional account
enhancements that will give customers more flexibility to meet
their personal financial needs.
- Announced a new short-term loan of up to $500 that is expected
to be offered by the end of the year to help customers with their
financial needs.
- Expanded support for 13 Black-owned Minority Depository
Institutions (MDIs) by offering access to a dedicated relationship
team that’s working with each MDI on financial, technological and
product development strategies to help strengthen and grow their
institutions.
- Introduced Our Money Matters, a comprehensive financial
wellness initiative for students of color at 14 Historically Black
Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Serving Institutions
(MSIs) who disproportionally face greater financial challenges and
college debt. As part of the initiative, Wells Fargo collaborated
with the HBCU Community Development Action Coalition to produce the
“Funny Money College Tour” – a series of on-campus events at HBCUs
and MSIs in which comedians and financial experts team up for an
entertaining, interactive financial education program.
- Supported MoCaFi’s new partnership with the City of Los
Angeles’s Angeleno Connect card, enabling users to withdraw funds
from Wells Fargo ATMs nationwide without incurring fees from Wells
Fargo.
- Extended additional funding and support to expand the Credit
Builders Alliance (CBA) low-cost, credit-building consumer loan
program.
Learn more about Wells Fargo’s Banking Inclusion Initiative at:
wellsfargo.com/bankinginclusion
About Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a leading financial
services company that has approximately $1.9 trillion in assets,
proudly serves one in three U.S. households and more than 10% of
small businesses in the U.S., and is the leading middle market
banking provider in the U.S. We provide a diversified set of
banking, investment and mortgage products and services, as well as
consumer and commercial finance, through our four reportable
operating segments: Consumer Banking and Lending, Commercial
Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking, and Wealth &
Investment Management. Wells Fargo ranked No. 37 on Fortune’s 2021
rankings of America’s largest corporations. In the communities we
serve, the company focuses its social impact on building a
sustainable, inclusive future for all by supporting housing
affordability, small business growth, financial health, and a
low-carbon economy. News, insights, and perspectives from Wells
Fargo are also available at Wells Fargo Stories.
Additional information may be found at www.wellsfargo.com |
Twitter: @WellsFargo.
About Operation HOPE, Inc.
Since 1992, Operation HOPE has been moving America from civil
rights to “silver rights” with the mission of making free
enterprise and capitalism work for the underserved—disrupting
poverty for millions of low and moderate-income youth and adults
across the nation. Through its community uplift model, HOPE Inside,
which received the 2016 Innovator of the Year recognition by
American Banker magazine, Operation HOPE has served more than 4
million individuals and directed more than $3.2 billion in economic
activity into disenfranchised communities—turning check-cashing
customers into banking customers, renters into homeowners, small
business dreamers into small business owners, minimum wage workers
into living wage consumers, and uncertain disaster victims into
financially empowered disaster survivors. For more information:
www.OperationHOPE.org. Follow the HOPE conversation on Twitter,
Facebook and Instagram.
Cautionary Statement About Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements about our
future financial performance and business. Because forward-looking
statements are based on our current expectations and assumptions
regarding the future, they are subject to inherent risks and
uncertainties. Do not unduly rely on forward-looking statements as
actual results could differ materially from expectations.
Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made, and we
do not undertake to update them to reflect changes or events that
occur after that date. For information about factors that could
cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations,
refer to our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, including the discussion under “Risk Factors” in our
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, as
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available on
its website at www.sec.gov.
WF-DI
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Wells Fargo Jim Seitz, 612-328-6221
Jim.seitz@wellsfargo.com
Aryel Bell, 330-328-4442 Aryel.Bell@wellsfargo.com
Operation HOPE Lalohni Campbell, 404-593-7145
la@persemediagroup.com
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