Diversity and equality

Three Black-owned U.S. banks have bought a piece of a $1.23 billion syndicated corporate loan, a rare move in a market typically dominated by bigger Wall Street and regional lenders.  

First introduced in 2020, the Fair Access to Financial Services Act would require banks to serve all customers in a manner similar to existing requirements for hotels and restaurants under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

HSBC Holdings' U.K. unit is planning to stop collecting data on the gender of its customers across some products as the bank pursues more inclusive services for nonbinary and trans people.

Totem's digital banking app is the first created by and for Native Americans. The challenger bank will help each of its partner tribes offer uniquely branded apps that provide banking services, distribute government assistance and teach users how to build their credit.

Community development financial institutions will receive low-interest loans from Bank of America and use that money to fund the development of primary health care centers in communities of color and rural areas.

Bank and financial services supervisors have an affirmative duty to address the deep economic divide facing minorities in the U.S.

For many credit unions, it's important to not only have underrepresented voices in the C-suite — they must also make sure others can follow a career path to the same roles.

A panel of FINRA arbitrators unanimously ordered the award against the megabank based on Erin Ann Daly’s claims of gender-based discrimination.

Democratic senators led by Bob Menendez urged the Federal Reserve to take a more active role in the selection process of the heads of its regional banks so that more diverse candidates would be considered.

OneAZ Credit Union built a vendor diversity database, based on a program from Arizona State University, to guide its spending at small businesses. It plans to allow other financial institutions to access this system as well.

The state-sponsored entity plans to launch a $250 million “community decarbonization fund” to finance electrification, energy efficiency and onsite power projects in disadvantaged communities.

Black employees at Citi in the category that includes midlevel managers jumped to 777 from 633 a year earlier.

The names of two Goldman Sachs Group executives mentioned in years-old internal complaints won’t be made public in one of Wall Street’s biggest gender discrimination lawsuits.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are investigating the bank over allegations that it conducted so-called fake interviews with nonwhite and female job applicants, The New York Times reported Thursday.

A new study has found that Black and Hispanic borrowers are denied conventional mortgages at higher rates than white applicants and pay up to $2,000 more to refinance.

The nonprofit First Step Alliance is working to launch Diverge Federal Credit Union, which plans to offer loans to cover the costs of gender affirmation surgery for individuals and adoption for same-sex couples.

The products MSU Federal Credit Union in Michigan is developing for transgender and nonbinary members also appeal to international and indigenous people, who often go by names that don't match their birth certificates.

CEO Bill Demchak said Thursday that the banking industry has become a "political football," and that lawmakers lack the "backbone" to make broader decisions on climate change and various social issues.

There is a gaping hole in the financial system in North Minneapolis, where people are preyed upon by payday lenders and fringe bankers, according to Debra Hurston, executive director of the Association for Black Economic Power. Hurston is creating a credit union for this community to help break residents out of a cycle of exploitation and debt. But the issue is far bigger than one city, and the opportunity is one that any bank or credit union can seize.

Goldman Sachs Group and its former female employees who sued the company in one of Wall Street’s biggest gender discrimination lawsuits are sparring over whether names of two senior executives mentioned in internal complaints should be exposed.