The District Chronicles

Issue date: 6/17/07 Section: Politics

Receiving Cs were: SunTrust and Washington Mutual. BB&T, Bank of America and Capital One Financial earned a grade of C-minus.

Earning D-plus were Wachovia, Regions Financial and National City (Wachovia appointed a second minority, but he didn't join the board until this year). Ds were awarded to six institutions: Bank of New York, JP Morgan Chase, MetLife, US Bancorp, Fifth Third Bank and State Street.

The title sponsor of this year's convention was Wachovia Securities. Contributing more money than any other sponsor entitled Wachovia to have its name plastered on convention bags, get the inside cover of the program book and have its CEO publicly acknowledged. Despite such firm support, as can be seen above, Wachovia earned only a D-plus on the report card. Prior to being acquired by Wachovia, Golden West Financial was the only company that tied President Bush's diversity numbers of 33 percent.

"Wachovia declined to keep any of Golden West's minority board members," the Greenlining Institute report noted. "Had Wachovia retained all of the Golden West minority board members, it would have had the second best record among banks, second only to Citigroup."

Essentially, a bank with a D-plus diversity grade was the most generous convention sponsor. The top-rated diversity bank - Citigroup - was a third-tier sponsor.

It's not enough to lump all people of color into one category; it is crucial that the plight of each group be examined separately. Research compiled by the Greenlining Institute show that only Citigroup, Sun Trust and PNC has as many as three African Americans on their board of directors. Wachovia has two. Everyone else except Regions Financial has only one black on their board. Regions has no African Americans on its 21-member board, the largest of the major financial institutions.

It makes good business sense to have more representative boards.

"Many experts believe diversity at the upper levels of management, such as the board of directors, helps promote 'safety and soundness' at banking institutions," the institute states. "This occurs in part by attracting leaders who understand both the dangers and the profitable potential of underserved markets. In part, the present lack of diversity may help explain why there are still 56 million unbanked Americans despite often laudable, albeit futile efforts by banks to reach out to the unbanked."

George E. Curry, former editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine and the NNPA News Service, is a keynote speaker, moderator, and media coach. He can be reached through his Web site, www.georgecurry.com.

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