Wells Fargo on Thursday became the third U.S. bank to disclose its adjusted gender pay gap, under pressure from investor Arjuna Capital.
Like Citi and Bank of America, Wells Fargo said its female employees earn more than 99 cents for every dollar earned by their male peers; it said the same was true for people of color. This is not the raw, median gender pay gap, but the adjusted pay gap, which takes factors like role, tenure and geography into account.
The bank said 56% of its employees are women and 42% are people of color.
In a statement, CEO Tim Sloan said Wells Fargo has made changes in base pay for its lowest-paid team members, improved its benefits programs, and is planning to grant restricted stock rights to 250,000 employees.
Natasha Lamb, managing partner and portfolio manager at the sustainable investment adviser Arjuna Capital, who has been pushing six banks and card companies to begin revealing their gender pay gap numbers, sees progress in Wells Fargo’s announcement.
“We started this engagement over a year ago and I was really disappointed to see how little movement there was last year. There was a lot of lip service being paid, but no real disclosure,” she said. “I think Wells Fargo is now stepping into leadership with Bank of America and Citi, committing to making this a priority going forward. It’s a big win for the companies, their employees and their investors.”
The three companies that have not disclosed pay gap numbers yet are Mastercard, American Express and JPMorgan Chase,
