Marin Independent Journal

JPMorgan has $30B plan to fix banking’s ‘systemic racism’

- By Ken Sweet and Alexandra Olson

CHARLOTTE, N.C. » JPMorgan Chase said Thursday it will extend billions in loans to Black and Latino homebuyers and small business owners in an expanded effort toward fixing what the bank calls “systemic racism” in the country’s economic system.

The New York bank said it is committing $30 billion over the next five years toward programs that include earmarking more money for getting Black and Latino families into homeowners­hip and providing additional financing to build affordable rental housing units.

“Systemic racism is a tragic part of America’s history,” said JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon in a prepared statement. “We can do more and do better to break down systems that have propagated racism and widespread economic inequality.”

In the immediate aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd, JPMorgan announced a commitment of $1.75 billion toward programs they said would help address racial inequaliti­es. But since then, as protests have remained constant in some urban centers, there has been a push for banks to do more.

Citigroup announced last month it is committing $1 billion toward closing “the racial wealth gap” in the United States, including $ 550 million toward homeowners­hip programs for racial minorities.

JPMorgan, which has $3.2 trillion in assets, said it expects the $30 billion to help finance 40,000 additional mortgages for Black and Latino households, another 20,000 loans that will refinance mortgages and help construct 100,000 affordable rental units. Additional funds will go to finance 15,000 small business loans to Black and Latino-

owned businesses.

There will also be programs to place 1 million customers in low- cost checking and savings accounts, partly by opening new branches in minority majority neighborho­ods.

Black households are several times more likely to be what is known as unbanked, meaning they do not have a primary checking account with a traditiona­l bank, or underbanke­d, where households still rely on high- cost financial services like check cashing, pawn shops and payday loans.

American banking still has a long way to go to fix the problems of the past. Banks large and small are still regularly cited for discrimina­tory practices, including allegation­s of “redlining” Black homebuyers. Redlining is a practice in which banks deny or avoid providing credit services to consumers because of racial demographi­cs or the neighborho­od where they live.

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