Wells Fargo & Co. — Ethics Grade D

Wells Fargo & Co. receives an overall ethics grade of D (28/100) on CancelCo's corporate accountability database. Sector: Financial Services. Market cap: Large Cap.

Category scores

• labor: 35
• privacy: 50
• consumer: 10
• environment: 30
• humanRights: 35

Documented incidents (3)

• Fake accounts scandal (high, 2016) — Employees opened 3.5 million unauthorized accounts to meet sales quotas. $3B settlement. CEO forced to resign.
• Discriminatory lending practices (high, 2022) — DOJ found Wells Fargo charged Black and Hispanic borrowers higher fees and steered them into costly subprime mortgages.
• Auto insurance overcharges (high, 2023) — Forced 800,000 borrowers to pay for unnecessary auto insurance, leading to 274,000 vehicle repossessions.

Documented good deeds

• Open for Business Fund — Provided $420M in grants to small businesses, particularly minority-owned enterprises affected by the pandemic.

Ethical alternatives

• Beneficial State Bank — B Corp certified community bank. Profits fund economic justice. No fossil fuel lending.