An analysis by the New York Federal Reserve finds that low-income neighborhoods are increasingly devolving into “banking deserts” with inadequate financial services. The researchers found that people in low-income tracts are 80 percent more likely to live in a banking desert than their counterparts in higher income tracts. From 2009 to 2014, the fraction of residents living in low-income tracts that are also banking deserts increased by about 0.2 percentage points, more than twice the rate for residents in higher income tracts. However, the analysis also found that residents of majority-minority tracts were actually less likely to live in a banking desert than their counterparts in non-minority tracts, reflecting the fact that majority-minority tracts are more likely located in urban areas where thick branch networks are sustainable.

As part of the 27th Annual Savannah Black Heritage Festival, the directors and staff of Carver State Bank led a group of community leaders, bank customers and other supporters to the monument honoring the bank’s founder, Louis B. Toomer. Toomer was one of Savannah’s prominent business and civic leaders, and was appointed by President Eisenhower to serve as Register of the U.S. Treasury from 1953-1956. In his remarks, Carver President Robert E. James said that one of the great tests of pioneering leaders is that the causes and institutions they champion continue long after the individuals are no longer with us. James honored Louis B. Toomer for championing the causes of economic independence, self-help, political inclusion and respect for African Americans.

Industrial Bank is responding to changing demographics and customer needs by transitioning from a culture emphasizing its friendly, family-owned roots to more businesslike service efficiency. Key to the shift have been the efforts of Vice President and Director of Human Resources Lynne Rowe, who has worked to adjust staff expectations about what constitutes good service and high performance. Measuring efficiency and expediting transactions is becoming as important as friendly, flexible service, Rowe says. During the culture conversion, Rowe spent considerable time engaging her coworkers in redefining Industrial Bank’s mission to emphasize adaptable service efficiency for a diverse clientele. “Each day brings new challenges, and you don’t know what exciting thing is going to greet you,” said Rowe.

A new collaboration between City National Bank of New Jersey, Clearshift and East Coast Capital Holdings aims to facilitate currency exchange with lower fees. The new platform relies on the millions of currency changes that occur on a daily basis in opposite directions. One company may need to exchange euros for dollars, while another company needs to exchange dollars for euros. The platform allows these exchanges to be done, to the greatest extent possible, as a P2P exchange. Clearshift makes up the difference in cases where an exact match can’t be found. As an additional benefit, the platform is capable of offering more cost transparency than many other services because it bases its exchange rates on the rates published by central banks daily.