ESG

Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase recently avoided shareholder votes tied to their use of arbitration clauses in sexual harassment cases. But socially conscious investors say the issue is likely to flare up again elsewhere and that banks would do well to address a wide range of gender equity matters head on.

Goldman Sachs pledged in late 2019 to stop financing projects in coal and Arctic oil exploration. Activist groups and Democratic senators say other large institutions should do the same given the economic and environmental risks from climate change.

Wells is thought to be the first big U.S. bank to allow harassment victims to go to court instead of arbitration. An investment firm that advocates for progressive causes claimed credit for the policy change.

Activist investors say the lender's words on combating climate change have not matched its actions. But the company argues that requests to put climate resolutions to a shareholder vote amounts to micromanagement.

The bank’s former Asia investment banking co-chief is its third executive to be so punished; the agency says Telegram’s digital coin is a security.

The country’s banks plan to raise overdraft rates to 40%, which has regulator watching; starting this year pay increases won’t be retroactive to Jan. 1.

In the year since it voluntarily disclosed its own data, Citigroup has shown an improvement in its median pay for female and minority employees, the firm said Wednesday.

Population shifts and the explosion of e-commerce will upend commercial real estate lending while heightened demand for clean energy, not to mention pressure from investors, will diminish banks’ enthusiasm for fossil-fuel financing.

Marcus and the Apple credit card accounted for 3% of the bank’s profit in the first three quarters of 2019, despite a multibillion-dollar investment in consumer operations; the senator’s plan would make it easier to expunge debt.

The bank announced a $750 billion plan to “focus on climate transition and inclusive growth”; the seven biggest banks have passed three years in a row.