American Banker, Waters’ proposed legislation would benefit underbanked communities
A recent report from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition found that while families and Main Street small businesses were desperate for financial support and counsel, America’s banks took advantage of the crisis to accelerate the pace of their already planned branch closures, escalating the formation rate of banking deserts. Since March 2020, banks have closed more than 4,000 branches across the country. At 201 closures per month, they doubled their closure rate, which — for the past 10 years — averaged around 99 per month. The NCRC also says that over the past five years, one-third of these closures were concentrated in low- to middle-income and minority neighborhoods.
