Company: WFC-PC
Filing Date: 2025-08-05
Form Type: 10-Q
Source: 0000072971-25-000201
Chunk: 44

Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY/MN
Filing Date: 2025-08-05
Form: 10-Q
Item: Item 1
Chunk 44
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 LITIGATION.  Plaintiffs representing a class of home mortgage applicants and customers filed putative class actions against Wells Fargo alleging that Wells Fargo’s mortgage lending policies and practices resulted in disparate treatment and disparate impact against minority applicants. These actions have been consolidated in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Similar allegations related to the Company’s home mortgage lending practices are also among the subjects of shareholder derivative lawsuits pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.INTERCHANGE LITIGATION.  Plaintiffs representing a class of merchants have filed putative class actions, and individual merchants have filed individual actions, alleging that Visa and Mastercard, as well as certain payment card issuing banks including Wells Fargo, unlawfully colluded to set interchange rates associated with Visa and Mastercard payment card transactions and that enforcement of certain Visa and Mastercard rules and alleged tying and bundling of services offered to merchants were anticompetitive. These actions have been consolidated in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Wells Fargo, along with other defendants and entities, are parties to loss and judgment sharing agreements, which provide that they, along with other entities, will share, based on a formula, in any losses or judgments from the relevant litigation. In July 2012, Visa, Mastercard, and the financial institution defendants, including Wells Fargo, agreed to pay a total of approximately $6.6 billion in order to settle the consolidated action. Several merchants opted out of the settlement and are pursuing individual actions. In June 2016, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated the settlement agreement and reversed and remanded the consolidated action to the district court for further proceedings. In November 2016, the district court appointed lead class counsel for a damages class and an equitable relief class. The parties entered into a settlement agreement to resolve the damages class claims pursuant to which defendants agreed to pay a total of approximately $6.2 billion, which includes approximately $5.3 billion of funds remaining in escrow from the 2012 settlement and $900 million in additional funding. Wells Fargo’s allocated responsibility for the additional funding is approximately $94.5 million. The court granted final approval of the settlement on December 13, 2019, which was affirmed by the Second Circuit on March 15, 2023. On September 27, 2021, the district court granted the plaintiffs’ motion for class certification in the equitable relief case. On March 26, 202