Two U.S. senators have forwarded correspondence to a trio of government agencies, advocating for more resources for minority-owned financial institutions.
Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and Raphael Warnock (D-GA) sent letters to
the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Federal Reserve and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) detailing the need to aid
Minority Deposit Institutions (MDIs).
“For generations, the financial system has denied communities of color equal access to the credit and banking services that allow families to build wealth and pursue opportunity,” the legislators wrote. “MDIs are an essential counterweight to these longstanding inequities. MDIs have a larger footprint and originate more loans in minority and low- or moderate-income communities, and thus help make financial services available to every American regardless of income, race, gender or geography.”
The lawmakers cited the FDIC’s auction of its Alamerica Bank shares, which they indicated could potentially end the financial institution’s minority ownership status while reducing the number of Black-owned banks.
“We need more MDIs and Black-owned banks, not fewer, and we applaud the recent steps in Columbus, Ohio to establish Adelphi Bank, which would be Ohio’s only Black-led bank and the twenty-first nationwide,” the legislators concluded. “Adelphi will serve the unmet needs of minority and low-income consumers in Columbus, and we are hopeful that similar efforts will stand up new MDIs elsewhere in Ohio and across the country.”