This Week in ESG and Impact Investing

Former President Donald Trump’s economic policies, particularly his approaches to banking and financial services, have reignited speculation about their potential impact on minority businesses and consumers. As his political presence grows, understanding the implications of Trump-aligned policies becomes essential for those navigating this complex economic landscape. A defining feature of Trump’s economic policy approach has been financial deregulation. By reducing compliance requirements on financial institutions, deregulation is intended to stimulate lending and expand access to capital. However, this approach often disproportionately benefits large financial institutions while sidelining smaller community banks and credit unions, which are crucial to minority businesses. While proponents of deregulation argue that fewer regulations mean increased credit availability for minority-owned businesses, this outcome is far from guaranteed. The underlying anti-diversity, equity, and inclusi...

Under Dodd/Frank,  " six federal financial regulatory agencies – the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency –" must, by law, develop standards and an approach to assessing the diversity policies and practices of entities they regulate. This means looking at diversity at all banks, investment firms, and credit unions. All of them. Each of these agencies will develop a way to determine if the policies of the entities they regulate are fair, or at least, inclusive. They are asking for comments on this. I suggest you comment, and have even drafted proposed comment text for you at:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_dVF9yIbI5SU_QkiwuNFg3sOkImTdXnUk5J6-pEm0ZM/edit?usp=sharing Comments are due by Feb. 7, 2014. Submit them via email by going to: Co...