Diversity and equality

In recent years, the wealth gulf between white and Black families has only grown. But there is hope that advances in fintech, such as wider adoption of artificial intelligence, can help.

In this month's roundup of top banking news: a Supreme Court ruling on CFPB funding, TD Bank's money laundering woes, an FDIC workplace probe reveals a culture of misconduct and more.

A set of panels discussing minority depository institutions and digitization found that cost is a significant challenge to minority depository institutions, especially in the core processing space.

Federal regulators need to mandate full disclosure of total costs for international money transfers, including all exchange rate markups, and to allow nonbanks access to the Fed's payment system.

In an increasingly cashless society, having a basic bank account ought to be an inalienable right. Instead, we have a system that deliberately prevents millions of Americans from making even the simplest transactions.

The Justice Department and the CFPB are increasingly relying on emails among employees that contain discriminatory comments to strengthen their hand in cases against lenders.

The megabank, which is eliminating about 5,000 jobs in a first round of restructuring, said that it's paused its annual review of racial and gender pay gaps. Citi will conduct a 2023 review sometime later this year, a source said.

For the second straight year, Goldman Sachs shareholders have filed a proposal calling for more details on racial and gender pay gaps. The request comes as the investment banking giant faces scrutiny over its lack of high-ranking women leaders.

An advocate for the credit union industry pushes back against "tired" and "recycled" criticism from bankers.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says it is in favor of consumer choice, but its shifting position on earned wage access calls that commitment into question.

A mixed-race couple claims a "whitewashed" valuation in 2023 returned a price 39% higher than the depository-approved result a year earlier.

She mixed outspoken activism with business pragmatism, launching a bank that helped hundreds of African Americans buy homes in her longtime community.

Characterizing them as 'schemes' unfairly impugns a service that cash-strapped consumers value and have come to count on.

People should have the option of having their rent and utilities payment history reported to credit bureaus in order to build up their credit history.

The longtime Most Powerful Women in Banking honoree looks back on her 40-year career and the power of persistence.

January is Human Trafficking Prevention Month, and the financial services industry should take the opportunity to step up for survivors.

As part of a settlement with the Justice Department, Patriot Bank must invest more than $1 million of the total in a loan subsidy fund for minority homeowners and take other corrective steps in its everyday business. The bank denied any wrongdoing.

New federal standards for responsible lending should trigger a surge of new capital into underserved communities, as concerns about reputational risk are allayed.

The country's largest credit union is learning the hard way that failure to assure inclusivity in lending practices is a recipe for both financial and reputational damage.

After being undercapitalized for decades, some minority-led banks finally got large capital infusions in the wake of George Floyd's murder. But higher interest rates have made it harder for them to gather the deposits they need to boost lending substantially.