AKA, oldest Black sorority, launches digital credit union
The nation’s oldest Black sorority is getting into the banking game.
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. announced earlier this month the opening of “For Members Only Federal Credit Union,” which it said aims to help build generational wealth for Black women, promote social justice and uplift communities.
The National Credit Union Administration granted the Chicago-based financial services provider a charter on Feb. 3 and the sorority expects it to be fully operational by the end of the year.
The credit union will be entirely digital. The sorority has one of its biggest presences in Atlanta, home to several historically black colleges and universities. Local leaders of the sorority, founded at Howard University in 1908, declined to share more details about the initiative.
The credit union will provide AKA members and their families with credit and checking accounts, personal loans, direct deposits and debit cards, according to a press release.
“As the first Black-owned, woman-led, sorority-based (and) 100% digital financial institution, we are poised to deliver innovative financial solutions that drive economic growth for our members, chapters, families and employees of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority,” AKA International President Danette Anthony Reed wrote in a letter to members.
The sorority is the oldest of four major Black sororities in the country and notable members have included Toni Morrison, Wanda Sykes, Coretta Scott King, physicist Katherine Johnson and Vice President Kamala Harris.
The announcement follows a recent trend of African Americans staking a claim in banking and financial services. An estimated 17% of Black households don’t have bank accounts compared to 3% of white households, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said in a 2020 report.
In Atlanta, rapper Killer Mike and business partners recently launched digital bank Greenwood aimed at Black and Latino consumers.
For Members Only isn’t the first credit union backed by a Greek-letter organization. Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and Phi Beta Sigman Fraternity both started credit unions in 1986. A third fraternity, Kappa Alpha Psi, closed its credit union in 2010.