The relative rarity of banks in nonwhite neighborhoods is exacerbating the racial wealth gap by leaving African Americans more reliant on expensive financial services such as payday lending institutions, according to Reuters, citing research by McKinsey & Co. The study found that majority-white counties have an average of 41 financial institutions per 100,000 people, compared to 27 in nonwhite majority neighborhoods. It also found banks in majority-black neighborhoods tend to require a higher minimum account balance, with an average minimum of $871 in black neighborhoods compared to $626 in white neighborhoods.

U.S. Congressman Bennie Thompson (D-MS-2) joined Planters Bank and Trust Company and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas (FHLB Dallas) representatives last Thursday to attend a walking tour of the Reserves at Gray Park. The Reserves at Gray Park is a mixed use, mixed income, in-fill housing development built on eight acres of land donated by the city to Greater Greenville Housing and Revitalization Association (GGHRA) in November 2014, with 42 apartment units for families at or below 80 percent of the area median income. Hailed as the Delta’s first sustainable, healthy community, the community consists of one-, two- and three-bedroom units. GGHRA received a $224,000 Affordable Housing Program (AHP) grant from Planters Bank and Trust Company and FHLB Dallas in 2018, aiding in development expenses for the Reserves at Gray Park project. Planters Bank and Trust Company has utilized FHLB Dallas products and partnered together on programs such as the AHP for nearly two decades.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board's new reserve methodology is unlikely to achieve its goal of helping the U.S. banking industry build reserves ahead of the next downturn thanks to the proposed delay in implementation for the vast majority of institutions. After years of debate, FASB created the current expected credit loss model, or CECL, with an eye to speed up the recognition of problems by requiring institutions to reserve for estimated losses at origination as opposed to building allowances when a loss is probable. Many bankers expect CECL to boost reserves at adoption, but we have argued that institutions are unlikely to build allowances enough to prepare for an economic downturn. That almost certainly will be the case for the vast majority of institutions in the U.S. banking industry, since FASB has now proposed delaying their implementation to 2023 — beyond the likely turn in the credit cycle.

Earline Williams, 76, said she was gifted the best Christmas present when she received a phone call on the first of the year from Mississippi-based BankPlus, telling her she had been approved to receive funds from the Special Needs Assistance Program (SNAP). SNAP grants are awarded through members like BankPlus to provide grant funds for rehabilitation and modification of owner-occupied housing of eligible, special-needs individuals. Since SNAP's inception in 2009, more than $15.1 million has been awarded in grants through FHLB Dallas member institutions to assist more than 3,000 families across FHLB Dallas' five-state District of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas.