Wells Fargo Agrees to Disclose Pay Gaps, Following U.S. Rivals

(Bloomberg) -- Wells Fargo & Co. agreed to disclose the gaps between what it pays men and women as well as disparities for minority groups, a spokeswoman said.

The San Francisco-based firm is the third major U.S. bank in recent weeks to change its policies on pay transparency under pressure from Boston-based Arjuna Capital, a shareholder in the banks. Citigroup Inc. said last month it would assess its gender pay gap in three countries and for U.S. minorities while Bank of America Corp. also said it would improve disclosures.

Arjuna has been urging large financial institutions in which it owns shares to provide more data about compensation. In exchange, the investment manager has agreed to withdraw shareholder proposals that probably would have been taken up at annual investor meetings in coming months.

Some banks already conduct internal studies on the matter. The most recent reviews at Bank of America and Citigroup each came to the same conclusions: Female employees in the U.S. and U.K. are paid on average 99 percent of what male employees earn, after adjusting for factors including role in the organization, experience, work location and performance. Minority employees are also paid on average 99 percent what their non-minority colleagues make, the banks said.

--With assistance from Jordyn Holman

To contact the reporters on this story: Laura J. Keller in New York at lkeller22@bloomberg.net, Laura Colby in New York at lcolby@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net, Steve Dickson

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