SUPPORTING STATEMENT: Financial institutions are essential pillars of the marketplace. On account of their unique and pivotal role in America's economy, many federal and state laws already prohibit them from discriminating against customers. And the UN Declaration of Human Rights recognizes that "everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion."1 These are an important part of protecting every American’s right to free speech and free exercise of religion.
As shareholders of Wells Fargo, we believe it is essential for the company to provide financial services on an equal basis without regard to factors such as race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or social, political, or religious views.
We are concerned with recent evidence of religious and political discrimination against customers by companies in the financial services industry, as seen in recent examples2 and the 2022 Statement on Debanking and Free Speech.3
The 2023 edition of the Viewpoint Diversity Business Index4 shows that many of the largest financial institutions include vague and subjective grounds to deny service like "reputational risk,” “social risk," "misinformation," "hate speech" or "intolerance." These kinds of terms allow financial institutions to deny or restrict service for arbitrary or discriminatory reasons. They also give fringe activists and governments a foothold to demand that private financial institutions deny service under the sweeping, unfettered discretion that such policies provide.
When companies engage in this kind of discrimination, they hinder the ability of Americans to access the marketplace and instead become de facto regulators and censors. This undermines the fundamental freedoms of our country and is an affront to the public trust. Politicized de-banking can also damage the company's reputation and ability to operate in favorable regulatory environments.
In early 2023, shareholders called for Chase, Mastercard, PayPal, Capital One, and Charles Schwab to assess whether they have adequate safeguards to prevent politicized debanking.5 Nineteen state attorneys general and fourteen state financial officers specifically called out Chase for their de-banking of a non-profit committed to advancing religious freedom and demanded action from the company to show good faith in addressing these widespread concerns.6