The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has a new plan to help promote Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs).
The Project REACh initiative is a way to encourage all large and midsize banks to develop meaningful partnerships with MDIs to help them remain a vibrant part of the economic landscape and better promote fair, equal, and full access to financial products and services in their communities, Acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks said.
“MDIs are critical pieces of their communities and enjoy trust and relevance other institutions do not,” Brooks said in a news release. “Their unique status makes them well-suited to help improve financial services for minority and underserved communities and create meaningful economic opportunities. Unfortunately, MDIs also face significant obstacles of their own. The Project REACh MDI Pledge draws attention to these issues and affirms the commitment by larger banks to support the health and function of these institutions.”
REACh stands for Roundtable for Economic Access and Change, and the project brings together leaders from the banking industry, national civil rights organizations, business, and technology to reduce specific barriers that prevent full, equal, and fair participation in the nation’s economy.
Project REACh convenes people with the ability to help solve inherent policy problems so underserved populations may have the same opportunities to succeed and benefit from the nation’s financial system as others. The group identifies and works to reduce barriers to access that exist at the national or local levels to expand access to credit and capital.
“We have the ability to dramatically expand access to a financial system that provides economic opportunity to hundreds of millions of people by reducing barriers that keep many people from fully participating in our economy,” Brooks said.
By making the pledge, a bank commits to:
- Invest in an MDI,
- Provide technical assistance,
- Identify business opportunities targeted to expand the MDI’s reach and impact within its communities,
- Support executive development, and
- Commit resources to support the MDI’s operations and customers.
Citi CEO Michael Corbat, a Project REACh founding member, said partnering with MDIs is a way to combine scale with local market expertise, community knowledge and long-established relationships to serve communities of color in a more effective way than banks could do on their own.
“Through this pledge and existing commitments such as our $1 billion Action for Racial Equity initiatives, we’re focused on MDIs’ growth and revenue generation, helping to close the racial wealth gap and increasing economic mobility in the United States,” Corbat said.