Pandemic crisis requires bolder action by bank CEOs - The health and livelihood of bank workers and customers are on the line
Bank CEOs
With a quarter of jobs disrupted 1 because of the pandemic crisis, Americans are drowning in debt. We have skipped payments on more than 100 million student loans, auto loans and other forms of debt in the last few months, 2 and 30% of Americans missed their June housing payment. 3 Instead of stepping up in this crisis, banks are denying homeowners from getting home equity loans or lines of credit when we need it the most. 4
Bank CEOs have claimed they are ready to help. They definitely have the financial resources. Twelve of the largest retail banks, including Bank of America, Citibank, JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo, have combined total assets of $8.5 trillion and made over $155 billion in profits last year. Instead of squandering their resources to pay dividends and stock buybacks, bank CEOs must take bolder action to ensure essential frontline bank workers, everyday customers, and small businesses have the protections they need to get through these uncertain and difficult times. Unfortunately, we have found bank CEOs have not acted swiftly or consistently enough.
Hundreds of thousands of essential frontline bank workers continue to try and serve customers as their financial needs have skyrocketed. And while many are now working from home, others still must go to work at their branch or call center and face the fear of positive cases 5 in their call center or branch plus the added uncertainty of being laid off 6, even though bank deposits have grown by $2 trillion since the pandemic hit American shores in January. 7
CBB member Alex Ross, a Loan Document Specialist in Wells Fargo’s auto department, put it succinctly, “I’ve been with Wells Fargo for more than three years and have seen the real financial support the bank is capable of providing me and my colleagues. Let me be clear: we are not receiving the support we need. While Wells Fargo was fighting to get its asset cap lifted during the early stages of the pandemic, I was fearing for my and my family’s health as I continued to go into the office day after day. That is unacceptable. Bank CEOs need to step up and fast. We don’t have time for more of the same nonsense.”
That is why the Committee for Better Banks launched a new Better Bank Accountability Project starting with a scorecard grading the 12 largest retail banks on their initial responses to COVID-19 for both workers and customers. The overwhelming majority of the banks failed. That is why we are calling on bank CEOs to take bolder action.
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To:
Bank CEOs
From:
[Your Name]
Since this pandemic plunged our economy into crisis, an estimated 25 percent of all jobs in the U.S. have been disrupted, causing unprecedented uncertainty and hardship. Millions of your customers are hurting. While many are finally able to work from home, your essential employees are fearful for their jobs and being exposed to COVID-19 at their branch or call center.
As CEOs of 12 of the largest retail banks in the United States with combined total assets of $8.5 trillion and profits of $155 billion last year, we are calling on you to take bolder action to protect the health and livelihoods of bank workers and customers. The Committee for Better Banks just released a scorecard grading you on your response so far. Most of you received Ds and Fs because your policies to meet customers’ needs during this pandemic crisis fall woefully short, and your policies to protect workers are not nearly enough. We call on you to take the following actions:
* Form a USA Banking Crisis Committee with the Committee for Better Banks that develops industry-wide policies in support of the health and financial well-being of frontline workers and consumers;
* Provide frontline workers with increased protections including hazard pay, paid sick leave, adequate PPE, and job security;
* Bolster employment levels, training and transparency of policies to ensure communities, customers and small businesses receive the real financial support they need, including increased flexibility for customers in need by increasing forbearance options for mortgages, rental properties, student loans and auto loans, and waiving fees for customers; plus maximizing support for truly-small businesses in need by streamlining loan applications, guidelines, and transparency.