Four Ways Banks Are Bettering Society
By ANA Staff
Since the financial crisis of 2008, banks have been the object of intense suspicions — suspicions that they themselves, at times, continue to confirm. After all, it was no less recently than in 2016 when the public discovered that Wells Fargo had secretly opened millions of fraudulent checking and savings accounts in its clients’ names to meet ambitious sales goals. A number of banks, however, have striven to focus not only on strengthening their bottom line, but on helping society realize its topmost possibilities. These banks have pursued this goal by supporting worthy causes such as:
- Financial education: SunTrust Bank developed its onUp Movement to give five million consumers, and particularly millennials, a better understanding of how to manage one’s finances, covering topics that ranged from establishing a family budget, to creating a savings account, to writing a will.
- General education: Itaú Unibanco has been an important champion of education in Brazil. In fact, in one year alone, it provided $200 million to improve public education and access to the arts. In addition, it provided 45 million books for children.
- LGBTQIA rights: TD Bank has promoted support of the LGBT community in a number of ways. It created black-and-rainbow-colored ribbons to honor the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting, it used its ads to promote acceptance of same-sex couples, and it sponsored both large- and small-scale Pride events in cities from Miami to Boston.
- Minority prosperity: Eastern Bank has made its own contribution to the LGBT community, for instance, by signing the amicus brief that challenged DOMA and by lobbying to pass a transgender rights bill in the Massachusetts state legislature. In addition, Eastern Bank has lent its support to other traditionally marginalized communities. For example, it developed the Business Equity Initiative to help local enterprises owned by people of color and to increase job opportunities and wealth creation in Black and Hispanic neighborhoods.
Source
"Four Ways Banks Are Betting Society." ANA, 2018.