In the wake of the recent murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, the CEOs of the “Big 6” major banks took to social media. We decided to take a deeper look into their statements using a scorecard written by the New Georgia Project. The scorecard examines the substance of each statement based on eight criteria. Here’s what we found.
Statements from CEOs Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan Chase and David Solomon of Goldman Sachs voiced their support of the protests while deliberately avoiding meaningful expressions of solidarity or recognition of their role in the decimation of Black and brown communities.
Interestingly, three of the six banks had to issue supplemental statements, either words from executives of color or amendments to initial statements. Still, each and every CEO statement failed the New Georgia Project’s scorecard.
The Big 6 banks also have a history of racial discrimination in lending and intentionally preying on Black and Brown communities. We documented their records, and placed them next to their statements to illustrate the emptiness of their words.
JP Morgan
What they say: “We are committed to fighting against racism and discrimination wherever and however it exists…Now, more than ever, each of us must be inclusive in our work and in the neighborhoods where we operate.”
What they do:
Bank of America
What they say: “The events of the past week have created a sense of true urgency that has arisen across our nation, particularly in view of the racial injustices we have seen in the communities where we work and live. We all need to do more.”
What they do:
Citibank
What they say: “Citi…cherishes diversity and inclusion and is willing to stand up for those values when they are threatened.”
What they do:
Wells Fargo
What they say: “I can commit that our company will do all we can to support our diverse communities and foster a company culture that deeply values and respects diversity and inclusion.”
What they do:
Goldman Sachs
What they say, “there is no place at Goldman Sachs for racism or discrimination against any group in any form. I know that acts of inhumanity – against any person or group – have a profound impact on our people.”
Morgan Stanley
What they say: “The pain, fear, sadness and anger felt by the black community, and also by the vast majority of people globally, is palpable.”
What they do:
These headlines don’t capture the full history, of course. The big banks were created to finance cotton. In fact, the very earliest “securities” on Wall Street were enslaved Africans. Violent wealth extraction is in their DNA. The exercise of scoring their statements reminds us that we deserve something better. Even when they’re responding to pressure, they still don’t get it right. They weren’t designed to. With them at the helm of the financial industry, one in 4 American households are unbanked or underbanked. They are pulling out of whole communities, leaving banking deserts behind them. And for the Black, white, and brown customers they do serve, they serve up predatory inclusion, as the trail of lawsuits amply demonstrates. We need a public banking system that gives a damn about serving Black, white and brown working people. These statements underscore that will never be the Big 6.
Learn More
Private Equity Profiteering from Incarceration, Tools of Police Brutality, Americans for Financial Reform, June 11th, 2020.
The Color of Money by Mehrsa Baradaran, Harvard University Press, March 11th, 2019.
How Wall Street Profits from Police Violence, by Alyxandra Goodwin, Whitney Shepard, and Carrie Sloan, Action Center on Race and the Economy (ACRE), June 8th, 2018.
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