Citi pledges $1B to close racial wealth gap

Citibank and the Citi Foundation committed $1B in funding to enhance access to financial services for communities of color.

Why should we care?
Citi’s investment is focused on two primary objectives: to make financial products more easily available to disadvantaged communities; and to make Citi a more diverse institution. Among the initiatives, Citi is providing minority depository institutions (MDIs) with $50M in growth capital, and is working to expand access to low-cost products and services. It’s adding $50M to the Citi Impact Fund to support Black-owned businesses. The bank said it will increase representation of Black employees in the U.S., particularly in senior roles, without offering specifics. Citi’s moves are part of an industry-wide focus on equity and access, and its challenge will be to show results. Citi wasn’t the only big bank making news on diversity this week: Wells Fargo CEO Charles Scharf drew fire after saying in a meeting that “there is a very limited pool of Black talent to recruit from,” comments he later said were misinterpreted.