Diversity and equality

The former Bank of the West CEO told honorees at American Banker's Most Powerful Women in Banking NEXT Awards ceremony to be confident in themselves, but also to have empathy for others as they strive for senior management positions.

At the Most Powerful Women in Banking conference, asset management leader Jenny Johnson discussed opportunities and risks for portfolio managers in 2023.

The Mer Rouge State Bank in Louisiana and Mission National Bank in San Francisco are among 184 banks to receive $70 million of grants from the Bank Enterprise Award Program, its largest awards ever.

Dawson Her Many Horses, a commercial banker at Wells Fargo, is a pivotal player in an effort among tribal leaders, the federal government and the private sector to improve the availability of economic data about Native American communities to encourage outside investment there.

Hybrid working made it easier for some women to pursue a career while balancing family demands but a renewed return-to-office push may reverse some of those gains, a report predicted.

Women are still underrepresented in senior management positions in 62 European banks, according to a new report that highlighted how nine banks employed no women at all in their top executive group.

Kevin Meyersburg, who is white, says in a lawsuit that the Wall Street investment bank terminated his employment and replaced him with a Black woman who is less qualified for the position. Morgan Stanley declined to comment.

OnPath Federal Credit Union in Louisiana recently launched a Spanish-language microsite to provide native speakers access to digital products that are simpler to navigate and content that's easier to understand.

The Canadian bank committed Monday to lending and investing over $2 billion in the Garden State's lower- to middle-income communities over the next three years. A $50 billion, multistate agreement was scrapped earlier this year after TD failed to get approval to buy First Horizon.

Right now it's every bank for themselves when it comes to translating financial disclosures into languages other than Spanish. The process comes with a number of challenges, such as ensuring all customers can understand the information despite nuances in the different Chinese dialects.

The company is rolling out a special-purpose credit program to help address what it describes as "the biggest barriers to achieving homeownership." Such programs are gaining popularity among banks.

Putting the pressure on employees to return to the office could cost financial companies their leadership.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is reviewing HSBC's lending practices in certain majority Black and Hispanic neighborhoods, the bank disclosed. The regions under scrutiny include New York, Seattle and several parts of California, according to the nonprofit organization whose complaint prompted the investigation.

In the wake of the decisions to roll back affirmative action provisions within college admissions, many executives are looking for ways to continue championing diversity, equity and inclusion.

The Supreme Court's ruling on affirmative action in higher education has opened the door to challenges of diversity initiatives in the financial services sector, legal experts say. Internship programs for minority students could face scrutiny, as could efforts to increase workforce diversity.

Eligible customers would receive a credit of up to $5,000 that can be put toward expenses like closing costs, or used to secure a lower interest rate. It's the latest example of a bank launching a program aimed at extending credit to minority borrowers.

Deborah Donnelly, senior program manager of talent and performance at BECU in Washington state, has prioritized training the next generation of professionals in each position she's held.

While 48% of hiring managers admit to having bias, 68% think that AI could be the key to removing it from the hiring process.

Eligible borrowers would receive a credit for up to $5,000 to pay for expenses like insurance, taxes and closing costs. The program comes months after fair-lending advocacy groups criticized KeyBank for its low rate of lending to Black borrowers.

The company directed its bilingual team to steer customers away from products with no closing costs toward "predatory lending options" without disclosing the costs, in part by refusing to provide Spanish-language written materials, according to a lawsuit filed by current and former members of the company's bilingual mortgage sales team.