The Seattle City Council has voted not to renew its contract with Wells Fargo, in a move that cites the bank’s role as a lender to the Dakota Access Pipeline project as well as its creation of millions of bogus accounts. As a result, the city’s won’t renew its contract with the bank that expires next year.
The unanimous vote will pull more than $3 billion in city funds from the banking giant, the council says. The city says the bidding process for its next banking partner will “incentivize ‘Social Responsibility.’”
After Seattle’s council acted, the city of Davis, Calif., took a similar action, voting to find a new bank to handle its roughly $124 million in accounts by the end of 2017.