This Week in ESG and Impact Investing

Over the past six months, a portfolio of stock in minority banks beat the S&P 500. The S&P 500 Index (green) returned 74% The Minority Bank portfolio (blue) returned 112%. Much of this performance has been due to the increased attention being paid to the minority banking sector. The portfolio consists of equal weights in a group of minority-owned banks (email info@minoritybank.com for the list).  Now, there are a few things to keep in mind: It's hard to actually buy this portfolio, mainly because stock in Black-owned banks is hard to come by. It is thinly traded and very illiquid. We are aware of a few with selected availability, but this is the exception, not the rule. Reach out to info@minoritybank.com for more information. We do not expect this situation to last. Most of the overperformance is due to investments made by large non-minority banks, like JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Citibank and Wells Fargo. You can't expect that these institutions will continue to pump up...

Banks of all sizes are continuing to direct funds to minority-owned businesses months after the social unrest that followed last year’s death of George Floyd. JPMorgan Chase just announced plans to invest $40 million in four Black-run banks. Ally Financial, Banner, Citigroup, Texas Capital Bancshares and First Republic Bank joined JPMorgan in providing capital to help fund Broadway Financial’s pending acquisition of the $435.4 million-asset CFBanc in Washington. Four community banks — First National in Strasburg, Va.; Fauquier Bancorp in Warrenton, Va.; Eagle Financial Services in Berryville, Va.; and Potomac Bancshares in Charles Town, W.Va. — recently created a $1 million fund to provide loans to Black-owned businesses and farms in their markets. The latest efforts show that the banking industry is still evaluating ways to help underserved markets. “There’s no doubt we needed to do an assessment on what more we could do as a firm,” said Brian Lamb, global head of diversity and inclus...

The seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), approved by the United Nations at the end of 2015, seek to develop the living conditions and conservation of the environment especially in developing countries. It also seeks to eliminate inequality across the globe in all sectors. SDG 16 and 17 clearly recognize the fact that only through the implementation of laws and enforcement of same can we guarantee the SDGs. Implementation of the SDGs will therefore require that countries use a wide range of policy and program approaches. It is therefore pleasant and refreshing to learn that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has a strong development focus, highlighting economic and social development.  The AFRICAN UNION’s (AU) Agenda 2063 highlights the point that Africa’s growth and integration into the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is part of the Agenda agreement. The positive aspect is that African Countries, by signing and ratifying the AfCFTA, will in the long ru...

On crowdfunding website Kickstarter, 57,502 gaming projects have raised $1.37 billion dollars as of January, 2021. In fact, the most successful crowdfunding project raised $300 million (and counting) for Star Citizen, a computer game. GameStop is a crowdfunding project. Along with the recent increase in the value of bitcoin, from $3,000 to $42,000 (low to peak in 2020), this points to the main problem with economics and finance: these "fields" serve the needs of a small, non-minority group of people. They are also, at core, racist and dishonest. We pointed this out some time ago in comments to the US Securities and Exchange Commission: December 22, 2003 "Envy, hatred, and greed have flourished in certain capital market institutions, propelling ethical standards of behavior downward. Without meaningful reform, there is a small (but significant and growing) risk that our economic system will simply cease functioning." http://www.sec.gov/rules/proposed/s71903/wmccir122...