The banking industry tried last week to make up for its mistreatment of military customers, which received some deserved bad press.
Some bankers and celebrities helped raised money for veterans at a charity event in New York and held a job fair to help war heroes find jobs on Wall Street.
Among the attendees of the "Veterans on Wall Street" fundraiser on June 23 at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum were: Richard Parsons, chairman of Citigroup Inc.; Seth Waugh, chief executive of Deutsche Bank AG's Americas division; and Marshall Carter, chairman of the NYSE Euronext.
They rubbed shoulders with NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams, the comedians Freddie Roman and Dick Capri, and musician Eddie Money, who performed his new single "One More Soldier Coming Home."
More than 850 people attended the event, which followed a job fair sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce called "Hiring Our Heroes." Credit Suisse Group AG, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank and dozens of other financial institutions sought to recruit veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Also hiring at the event: JPMorgan Chase & Co.
The New York banking giant has made several expressions of goodwill toward veterans after the scandal caused by its foreclosure on service members' homes while they were overseas.
Besides an overhaul of its military lending practices, JPMorgan Chase in early June committed $7.5 million to build a veteran center in Syracuse, N.Y. Chairman and Chief Executive Jamie Dimon publicly apologized in May, calling the foreclosures the worst mistake the bank has ever made.
