YEREVAN, November 9. /ARKA/. Citibank illegally discriminated against Armenian Americans for years by singling them out on credit card applications based on their surnames, a federal regulator alleged on Wednesday, according to news reports.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) found that from at least 2015 through 2021, Citi targeted retail services credit card applicants whom employees associated with Armenian national origin.

“Citi treated Armenian Americans as criminals who were likely to commit fraud,” the CFPB alleged.

Citi applied more stringent criteria to suspected Armenian Americans’ applications, including “denying them outright,” placing blocks on the accounts and requiring additional information, according to the regulator.

The CFPB said Citi targeted applicants with last names ending in “-ian” and “-yan” as well as applicants in and around Glendale, California, which is home to a large Armenian American population.

Regulators painted the picture of an orchestrated effort by Citi to conceal the alleged discrimination, including by allegedly falsifying documents.

Citi is a major issuer of store credit cards, including retail cards for Home Depot, Best Buy and other chains.

To punish Citi for the alleged discrimination, the CFPB ordered the bank to pay $25.9 million in fines and consumer redress. Of the total, $1.4 million will go to the victims of Citigroup’s discriminatory practices, the regulator said.

 “Regrettably, in trying to thwart a well-documented Armenian fraud ring operating in certain parts of California, a few employees took impermissible actions,” Citi spokesperson Karen Kearns said in a statement

“While we prioritize protecting our bank and our customers from fraud, it is unacceptable to base credit decisions on national origin.”

The Citi spokesperson added that after an internal investigation, the bank took “appropriate actions” against those involved and imposed steps to prevent this from happening again.

”We sincerely apologize to any applicant who was evaluated unfairly by the small number of employees who circumvented our fraud detection protocols,” the Citi spokesperson said. -0-