Diversity and equality

The consumer agency alleges Townstone Financial's CEO and president made statements on a radio show discouraging applicants living in Black neighborhoods from seeking home loans.

He co-founded California Rural Legal Assistance, Public Advocates and the Greenlining Institute.

The best intentioned efforts to bridge racial or gender gaps, or to create a more inclusive market for a financial project, will likely fail unless there’s careful attention paid to a lack of diversity at the onset.

Even though fewer cases are reported among the agency's employees compared to the government average, the watchdog said the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. should improve its anti-harassment training and other procedures.

The pressure is on for banks to help Black and Hispanic households build net worth. Many say that starts with diversifying the ranks of middle and upper management.

New president of Promontory Interfinancial Network says recession will cause "hundreds" of nonbank disruptors to fail; lenders face dilemma over offering Main Street loans to noncustomers; PNC Financial expands, diversifies executive leadership team; and more from this week’s most-read stories.

Working together, credit unions can help build a culture of tolerance and inclusion that in time may aid in healing some of the nation's oldest wounds.

Less than three weeks after making a $1.05 billion pledge to fight racism, the Pittsburgh company promoted two Black bankers to its top-level management committee.

Royal Bank of Canada says it is raising internal targets for the number of racial minorities in executive roles to improve diversity in its leadership ranks.

The Main Street Lending Program and other Federal Reserve loan facilities should be tailored to the needs of Black-owned banks and businesses.

In the tech-centric payments industry, the number of women in C-suite roles is rising after decades of incremental progress, but the path to leadership for Black people in the payments industry remains steep and lonely.

Christina O’Brien has worked at the Warner Robins, Ga.-based credit union for almost 30 years in a variety of roles.

The company seeks to help funnel more loans to minority businesses and consumers; the regulator says short-staffed banks are having trouble handling new government programs.

The New York State Department of Financial Services issued a letter Tuesday reminding lenders of amendments to the state's Community Reinvestment Act, under which banks are evaluated on how they meet the credit needs of businesses owned by women and minorities.

Amex is offering cash rewards on a global scale for customers who shop at small businesses that are trying to recover from coronavirus lockdowns. The card brand also pledged $10 million to support Black-owned small businesses over the next four years.

JPMorgan Chase is cracking down on racism by its customers. The bank is revamping a policy for dealing with abusive clients to include racism toward call-center employees as behavior that could warrant cutting ties with the customers.

Mastercard Inc. vowed to improve the diversity of its leadership ranks, saying it plans to increase the number of Black leaders at the vice president level and above by 50% by 2025.

The Fed stopped short of banning payouts entirely following bank stress tests; banks get greater freedom to invest in venture capital funds and reduced collateral on swap trades.

VCs and lenders rely on business data such as transaction records to inform funding decisions for fintechs or small businesses, but bias and uneven representation in management still result in gender and racial disparity.

More than half of Toronto's population is foreign-born — a higher proportion than New York, Paris, London or Sydney — and about 52% identify as a visible minority. But the city's diversity fades in the upper echelons of its financial firms.