WFC Wells Fargo and Company

By Denny Jacob

Wells Fargo & Co. said Tuesday it will commission an external, third-party racial equity audit.

The bank said it plans to publish the results of the assessment, being conducted by Covington & Burling LLP, by the end of 2023.

"Commissioning this work is a critical next step in reinforcing our commitment to racial equity and closing the wealth gap in this country," said Chief Executive Charlie Scharf.

Wells Fargo has been working to fix its image in the wake of recent controversies. The bank in 2020 agreed to pay $3 billion to settle investigations by the U.S. Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission into its long-running fake accounts scandal.

Additionally, the New York Times reported in June that the company is at the center of a criminal investigation regarding whether it violated federal laws by conducting fake job interviews with women and people of color for positions that had already been promised to other people.

Wells Fargo said earlier in the week of the Times report that it temporarily paused the use of its diverse slate guidelines and that during the pause it is conducting a review so employees can understand how its guidelines should be implemented. "No one should be put through an interview without a real chance of receiving an offer, period," Wells Fargo said following the Times report.

Write to Denny Jacob at denny.jacob@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 13, 2022 14:57 ET (18:57 GMT)

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