NEW YORK Wells Fargo promoted Dawson Her Many Horses, head of Native American Banking, to managing director, one of the first enrolled tribal members to reach that rank at a major U.S. bank, the lender said on Monday.

Her Many Horses was appointed head of Native American Banking in the commercial banking division in 2021. He joined Wells Fargo in 2018.

Wells Fargo has banking relationships with one out of three federally recognized tribes in the U.S. with about $3.4 billion in credit commitments and $4.1 billion in deposits.

U.S. banks have sought to diversify their ranks in recent years.

Last year, Wells Fargo commissioned a third-party racial equity audit by law firm Covington & Burling after the New York Times reported the bank had carried out fake job interviews with minority candidates for roles that had already been allocated to other candidates.

(Reporting by Nupur Anand in New York; Editing by Lananh Nguyen and Richard Chang)