"Two years ago, when billions of dollars of equity capital from the U.S. government were awarded to minority banks and community development financial institutions, there was widespread hope that the funding would propel growth at those institutions and eventually help close the racial wealth gap.

Combined with equity investments from the country's largest banks, the massive injection of capital into dozens of minority depository institutions in particular — which have long struggled to build capital with the same success as non-minority banks — was hailed as transformational.

But a combination of higher interest rates, higher deposit costs and post-banking crisis concerns about the safety and soundness of the nation's smaller financial institutions has put a significant damper on some minority banks' ability to attract and retain deposits. And without more deposits, some bankers say they cannot fully leverage the equity capital they have received."