Citibank To Pay $25.9 Million For Discrimination Against Armenian Americans

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has ordered Citibank to pay $25.9 million in fines and compensation for discriminating against customers who identified themselves as Armenian Americans when applying for the bank's credit cards.

The government agency, which has the authority to take action against institutions violating consumer financial protection laws, said that the bank treated these applicants as if they were criminals likely to commit crimes.

"The CFPB found that Citi purposefully discriminated against applicants of Armenian descent, primarily based on the spelling of their last name," CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a statement published on the agency's website. "Citi stereotyped Armenians as prone to crime and fraud. In reality, Citi illegally fabricated documents to cover up its discrimination."

According to the CFPB, the bank specifically targeted last names ending in "-ian" and "-yan" as well as applicants from Glendale, California, which is home to a large population of Armenian Americans.

From 2015 to 2021, employees conspired to hide the discrimination and lied to customers about the reasons behind the denial of their applications, the agency said.

The CFPB ordered Citi to pay $1.4 million to affected consumers and a fine of $24.5 million, which will go to the CFPB's victims' relief fund.

"Regrettably, in trying to thwart a well-documented Armenian fraud ring operating in certain parts of California, a few employees took impermissible actions," Citibank said in an emailed statement to International Business Times. "We sincerely apologize to any applicant who was evaluated unfairly by the small number of employees who circumvented our fraud detection protocols. Following an internal investigation, we have taken appropriate actions with those directly involved in this matter and we promptly put in place measures to prevent any recurrence of such conduct."