Diversity and equality

Wells Fargo, which approved fewer than half of mortgage refinancings sought by Black homeowners in 2020, prompting calls for regulatory investigations, greenlighted a larger share of applications from such borrowers last year.

JPMorgan Chase said it will do a third-party audit of its $30 billion racial-equity commitment, following Citigroup and BlackRock in agreeing to such a review.

Banks and credit unions that use Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers to onboard customers without Social Security numbers are seeing sizable growth in loans and deposits from people who might otherwise be unbanked.

The North Carolina bank’s earlier $60 billion plan, which was tied to the BB&T-SunTrust merger, is set to expire this year. Its new efforts are a sign that such deals aren't always one-off arrangements meant to grease the rails for an acquisition.

The actions involved are based on findings by an interagency task force first convened last year by Marcia Fudge, secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

David Miree will become global head of diversity, equity and inclusion for the New York megabank. He will succeed Brian Lamb, who will move into a new role in the firm’s commercial banking business.

The City Council recently voted 15-1 to establish a financial authority that would provide credit enhancements on loans to underserved borrowers. Public banking advocates say the effort is both an interim step for Philadelphia and a test case for other cities.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown and other Democratic senators called on Thursday for regulators to investigate Wells Fargo’s treatment of Black homeowners seeking to refinance mortgages during the pandemic. 

Join Maggie Kimberl, President of the Bourbon Women Association for a peek behind the scenes of the bourbon industry. Learn more about the women that are rising in the male-dominated spirits sector, the proper bourbon tasting technique and a little bit of the history of bourbon.

A group of religiously affiliated shareholders that had pushed the bank to write the report says it does not include the voices of key stakeholders. The report's recommendations, written by an outside law firm, touch on workforce diversity, customer remediation and preventing retaliation against employees.