A Look Inside...

There are currently 40 minority-owned banks in the United States that operate with a national charter. Ask any leader of these minority-owned institutions (MOI) how they would like their bank to be perceived and the likely answer would be, “like a traditional community bank that just happens to be owned and managed by minorities.”

These leaders would also say that they recognized the financial needs of their communities long before Congress decided that it was important to require banks to invest in communities where they draw their deposits – a law we know today as the Community Reinvestment Act, or CRA.

MOIs are the focus of this newsletter – from the perspectives of how they serve their customers and communities, how they operate, and why it is important that they be preserved.  In its pages, you will hear from many MOI leaders and representatives from their trade association, the National Bankers Association, or NBA.

They all have one over-arching message to their larger counterparts in the financial services industry.  And that message is that in order for MOIs to grow and prosper, they must increase their capitalization and funding sources. 

Investments in MOIs are investments in communities and in the preservation of a segment of the financial services industry that knows how to serve these communities.

In a 2001 policy statement, the OCC affirmed its commitment to work with industry and the other bank regulators to ensure that MOIs can find those resources. Today, financial institutions of all sizes looking for investment and partnership opportunities with MOIs can receive CRA consideration for these activities.

We hope that you will find this newsletter helpful as your bank explores opportunities to partner with and invest in MOIs. They are win-win partnerships that yield good returns to everyone – the MOIs, the communities they serve, and the larger financial services industry.

Barry Wides
Deputy Comptroller
Community Affairs
CommunityAffairs@occ.treas.gov