Commission seeks to address inequities in banking
Commission seeks to address inequities in banking
BY TIA CAROL JONES
On Juneteenth, Melissa Conyears-Ervin, treasurer of the City of Chicago, and Michael Frerichs, treasurer of the State of Illinois led a virtual roundtable that focused on systemic racism in the banking industry.
The virtual roundtable featured CEOs of banks which included BMO Financial Group, Northern Trust, Wintrust Financial Corporation and First Midwest Bank, as well as the president of the Midwest Region of JPMorgan Chase and Chicago Region President of Fifth Third Bank.
The result of the roundtable is a new commission, the Advancing Equity in Banking Commission, which Conyears-Ervin and Frerichs will serve as co-chairs.
The commission will look at ways the banking industry can reverse systemic racism when it comes to hiring and promotion of personnel, bank and branch locations, as well as disparities of lending and community investment.
Conyears-Ervin said with the COVID-19 pandemic, record high unemployment, uncertainty and racial injustice and killing of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, it has been a very heavy three months. Then, WBEZ came out with a report about banks lending more to one white neighborhood than all Black neighborhoods combined. Conyears-Ervin said when she heard the report, she reached out to Frerichs.
“I said, state treasurer, you and I, we have to do something. When we come together, we know we can make an impact. We decided to bring the banks to the table,” she said. “Juneteenth is memorable, but we also wanted to make an impact and send a message. Juneteenth is for Blacks, it’s our celebration of being free. This convening of the banks was specially about lending in the Black community.”
Conyears-Ervin said what she really likes about the commission is that its mission is specifically focused on the Black community. She said they started with the top, the CEOs.
“We want to convene with the CEOs because if we get their mission appropriately focused on being equitable, we know that it will fall in line with their employees,” she said.
Conyears-Ervin said the leaders of the banking industry acknowledged that there was room for improvement. She said she appreciated that.
Frerichs said the goal of the commission was to produce some tangible results.
“I think they’re aware that something has to change. I get the sense they’re embarrassed by their low numbers coming to light and have told us they know they need to change,” he said, “I think they’re eager to work with us. And, Treasurer Conyears-Ervin and I want to make sure that it’s not producing window dressing, that we get real substantive change that’s going to last past this moment.”
Frerichs said since taking office in 2015, there was hard work done in the state treasurer’s office to make sure the African-American community also benefits from the investment of the state’s $32 billion.
“What really started this is, was the abysmally low rates and the lack of inclusion and lack of equity in the banking sector and we said ‘we came in and made tremendous progress here, we would like to help guide these banks to make similar progress,’ “ he said. “It’s clear there has been a historical issue, but it’s also clear that we’re in a moment where attention is focused, and people are wanting to do something. The city treasurer and I would like to make sure they do something substantive and something lasting.”
Latest Stories
- One Night Only Performance Show Dance Company Entering ‘New Horizons’
- New Choice Intervention Provides Much Needed Mental Health Services To The Community
- University of Chicago Program Brings Mavis Staples To Campus
- Larry’s Barber College Set For Expansion Of Facility And Education Programs
- Art Exhibit Shows And Tells The Stories Of Widows
- Introducing Shot Bar's New Location
- Illinois Reparations Coalition Advocates for Guaranteed Income Program as Drug War Reparations
- Reps. Kelly, Balderson Introduce Legislation to Combat Scams Targeting Seniors
- Gov. Pritzker Highlights Proposal to Eliminate $1 Billion in Medical Debt
- Customers urged to stay connected if they are behind on bills
Latest Podcast
Sydney Blaylock-The local skater with national experience
