Bias is certainly making headlines these days: Racial bias, political bias, even algorithmic bias embedded by non-representative sample datasets.
Humans are flawed emotional beings and will always probably be biased to some degree in their decision making process. This does not suggest that we should ignore it. Rather we all need to understand and try to suppress our own innate biases in order to behave more rationally. The study of behavioral economics addresses this point. My own bias is toward smart young female leaders like those in Finland, New Zealand and Liberia, but that’s beside the point.
Jamie Dimon is well regarded as a brilliant manager. What should he do? If he wishes to gain market share in wealth management services for Afro-American athletes he should probably have a team specifically dedicated to this demographic. The sales unit of this team should consist of capable affable business-minded Afro-American ex-athletes. Perhaps the subject of this article who was “demoted” to HR should execute such a plan now that he has some influence in the hiring process.
It is extremely regrettable but completely understandable to see what happens when bias is unexamined, becomes institutionalized and conflicts with fundamental notions of fairness, impartiality and equal opportunity. The result is suboptimal and invites litigation and reputation loss.
Political bias in today’s highly polarized atmosphere is even worse. We need to find ways to work together again.
97
@One Eyed Man
Did you read the article? No one was "'demoted' to HR." Mr. Peters was fired on a pretext after he brought a well-substantiated race discrimination claim.
What is described in the article is not "regrettable." It's outrageous.
91
If you desire to "come together" perhaps start by calling a group of people by their preferred nomenclature would be helpful. "African-Americans" or Black, if you please. If you can't be bothered to do that, you aren't serious about your intentions.
43
@One Eyed Man -- I differ with you on this: Jamie Dimond should be able to take -any- of his financial management advisors - *any* - of them, and have them advise African-American clients, and get them the same treatment... from any randomly chosen JP Morgan advisor. It shouldn't matter what color the client or the advisor is. If it does, either way, the Jamie Dimond needs to work harder on clearing that, because that is a problem. Money is money - take it all because -all- the money is the -same- color.
64
Truth be told, after reading the article I couldn’t find a single piece of real evidence of racism. Sure there was railroading of ‘problematic’ employees, but nothing that suggested either of the employees were mistreated because they were Black. I haven’t listened to the audio, maybe it will reveal more, but I urge people to actually read the text and see if it tells you these people were being truly discriminated against. Perhaps there was a racist subtext, but if there was I couldn’t find it. Instead I am seeing a lot of perceived racism, which is very problematic as it makes people misjudge what real racism is. Being sent to a poorer branch because your bosses don’t like you due to you being ‘problematic’ (he did get involved in the class action suit) is not the same as actually being discriminated against and being put down.
123
@Waleed Khalid What a chuckle. You claim you 'read' the article? Did you miss this paragraph?
Less than two weeks later, JPMorgan agreed to pay $24 million to end a class-action lawsuit brought by other black employees who said the company had discriminated against them — in some cases by isolating them from colleagues and dumping them in poorer branches.
354
@Thomas Lowinger I am a Chase private client. I am drinking out of a Chase private client coffee mug right now. I get hoodies, golf balls, pens and other tchotchkes. I get invited to golf outings and ball games, but, I am not at the $3 million level at Chase. There are different degrees of Chase private clients.
83
@Waleed Khalid Racism is translated through the filters of your own eyes. It’s crystal clear racism took place you choose not to see it. It’s your choice not to see the different treatment. It takes $250,000 for special banking privileges. I have $800,000 but am denied those privileges. Simple as that, but you will never see.
332
I am white and became a chase private client around 2012 with less than 50k in combined assets with chase. Two checking accounts, one savings account, and a business account. I had to go to a second branch because the first one refused. I like chase but how could they turn down someone with almost 1 million is assets with chase and accept me!?
46
Even as we comment on this infuriating episode of corporate racism, JP Morgan is up 2.38 percent today. That’s how much Wall Street cares about racism, and that’s how much this is just business as usual at the bank.
In other news, today the Federal Reserve lifted a 2013 consent order imposed because the JPM had inadequate measures against money laundering. Apparently, money laundering is now not a problem.
So hats off to Jamie Dimon! Bringing it home for the shareholders.
21
The racial hatred controlled everything it seems.
8
I wanted to get sick after I read this. It wasn't even subtle. It was right out there like the other bankers were proud of it. And this statement,“You’ve got somebody who’s coming from Section 8, never had a nickel to spend, and now she’s got $400,000,” was especially outrageous. Does the person who made this statement think that all people without a lot of money are going to waste it? Did he never hear of educating a person about how to make money on money? Did he never think that what he said about someone who came from poverty could apply equally to someone who inherited her fortune and didn't have to work for it?
It's not the 1950s any longer. It's the 21st century, and we're entering the third decade. These attitudes ought to have died long before now. I will avoid JP Morgan if I do come into a lot of money at some point. After all, I'm a woman and I don't come from wealth. I couldn't possibly relate to the people working for JP Morgan who have earned it. I hope they realize that by continuing to practice these "tricks" they lose customers and valuable employees.
53
This entire article is sickening. How long will people of color have to be subjected to ignorant racists who were recorded in this story? Why are the so -called (white) mangers at this company still employed at J. P. Morgan? Why were African American financial advisers relegated to “offices in the back?” What year is this? What country is this? Sad.
35
This is a story about a conversation about racism, pretending to be a story about actual acts of racism. Imagine you’re a wealthy successful person who happens to be black and you end up with the “it’s because their all racists” guy as your advisor. Merely because there is a surreptitious recording (of that non-bombshell), it’s treated as if a super sleuth blew the cover off a giant racism scandal. It seems as likely that he blew the cover off nothing more than an ineffectual and disgruntled employee who was overeager to use their shared skin color as a bond. If it were a grainy undercover video that we could all watch and not just listen to, then we’d REALLY know the bank was infested with racists. You feel me?
4
Did you read this piece??? What explanation can there be for clustering black employees at branches in poor neighborhoods? Or for Peter’s’ treatment?
31
I've been banking with Chase since college. Moving up, I've tried to stay committed. I had a feeling that Chase did not value me as a customer, especially when I shared experiences with my Caucasian friends with accounts at Chase. I left Chase after 18 yrs. I suspected racism, good to see someone actually took a stand.
35
How does the saying go: the customer is always white? Something like that. Anyone paying attention knows that black men especially are commonly warehoused and sidelined— in schools, professional spaces and even in penal systems. Black families are steered away from opportunity every day all over the country. Times haven’t changed much at all in that regard in the last 50 years.
38
Racism is unacceptable. But there is I suspect a back story here that employees could not tell the writer. If Ricardo is so talented why 5 months after leaving the bank has he still not done anything more than set up a linked in account? No website. What evidence is there that he was a good advisor? I did not see any mention of him attaining any credentials like CFP etc. Looks like it took him 5+ years to get a series 7 which most people seeking to be financial advisors would get in there first year.
6
I am not surprised by the article as a current employee. There have been colleagues of mine denied promotions because of there race but JPMorgan would use the adage you don’t have the experience. I would think 20 plus years in that position would give that person the experience. Another manager told an employee, she had reach the salary cap for her position but yet I sit here today making less than that former employee but new hirers making almost twice as much all because of race. It has always been systematic racism, it will continue to be and will never change.
Truth.
14
@Waleed Khalid, I was forced to a less lucrative branch, not due to the fact I was problematic, per your own assumption of me, because I wasn't the right color, nor would I participate in the unethical sales practices that occurred there frequently by the branch manager and former Boss. I'm extremely shocked that after listening to a snippet of racism stereotypes by my former manager that are in this article and reading its entirety the only true opinion you formed was that I was a problematic employee that joined class action lawsuit ; which I actually opted out of. You have created false narratives on topics that it is very obvious, you know little about. This is the very reason I wanted to bring this kind of insensitive social injustice to light.
95
They can deny all they want, but they got em dead to rights.
11
“Bernie Sanders still says class is more important than race. He is still wrong”, The Guardian.
Bernie is a nice guy, but totally out of touch of reality. There are plenty of nice guys like him, sadly.
13
This article reminds me of a story my Financial Advisor told me.
A colleague retired and my FA inherited the book of business. It included a client who had very little invested with the bank. During the initial client meeting, the client told my FA that he was gay. "Yes, and why does this matter?" asked my FA. Apparently, it was an issue with the retired FA. This was in San Francisco, too. After working with my FA, the client moved over $1M to the investment bank.
In addition to being unethical, discrimination isn't good for business.
22
Jamie Dimon has to step up and stop this.
10
White men, especially baby boomers and older, are such fragile people. They’re compensating for their own insecurities and inadequacies by abusing what little self-importance and power they can wield. It’s telling that the banker believes the woman who inherited $400k won’t respect her money because she didn’t work for it, but I have no doubt he believes that the mostly white trust-fund children of billionaires are entitled to all the perqs of their inheritance.
93
Why would you expect anything to ever change when you generalize like that? If you truly believe that all white men act the same way, and you can’t acknowledge that some don’t, then those some have no chance of being recognized for being different. Therefore, why would they act any differently?
8
Why is this article not on the Business section splash screen. Why does it have to be searched for. My reaction was this is unbelievable but totally believable. I wish someone would ask Jamie Dimon about this during a quarterly analyst call. The answer would be better than that of some spokesperson's canned comment.
29
Anyone who claims this isn't a classic example of institutionalized/organizational racism is either extraordinarily naive and/or in denial about American history and our current culture. We just need to keep calling this nonsense out over and over again, and fining/punishing institutions over and over again until they finally get the message: racism is wrong and really, really bad for the brand and the bottom line. But, I won't hold my breath.
29
Just disgraceful. I may not have a lot of money in my Chase account, which on the commercial side is JP Morgan, but I am getting it out of there! Other banks are likely just as bad. A bank is a conglomeration of people who work there and as such effect the ethos of the bank's owner(s). These employees are lacking general management skills and have no respect for employment law. Does JP Morgan train their employees? Or, is it since the employees know to ingratiate themselves to wealthy non-black people, and so what if it doesn't the bank will stand with them-- it doesn't have to. Needless to say, Jamie Dimon should have suffered professionally in the mortgage meltdown that his decisions contributed to, nationally. The following year he got a BIG raise. No sweat. Yes, it is RACISM, blatant and shamelessly. And, who is going to do anything about it? That IS the problem. If two weeks later, after paying out $24M reflects no change in employee or bank institutional behavior and discrimination is just as easily allowed to occur, JP Morgan needs to get sued again right now!
18
This is really sad but true. Chase will recover from the bad press but nothing will really change. I am a very high net worth individual and you will never see me in a Chase branch.
12
I think Ms. Wexler should be fired. All the warmth and humanity of Stephen Miller and the hubris and vulgarity of Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
20
Well, JPMorgan gang, here you are in the NY Times discriminating against a black millionaire. You've been caught with your pants not just down, but well below your ankles.
Wells Fargo could not have played it better.
Why don't you take a long weekend in the Hamptons and figure out your next move.
23
wow what a bunch of clueless morons. I am selling my JP stock.
9
What about the black family in JPMorgan's "Crab Shack" commercial? I guess in real life, unlike a similar white family, they really don't get to "do their thing" after all.
4
This is infuriating. Is JP Morgan so fat that it happily takes its eye off the prize —$800,000, $400,000? Is it so ignorant that it is clueless about blatant racism in this Arizona branch? Terrible management. I hope this story has legs and people are shown the door.
17
“You sit in front of him, you’re like three times his size — you feel what I’m saying? — he already probably has his perception of how these interactions could go.”
I don't know Mr. Venniro but would he have felt the same if it was a Big white ex-ball player. Somehow, I don't think so.
13
OMG I do love all the salacious gossip I read in the NYT every day. Makes me feel like I'm the proverbial fly on the wall.
2
Responding to Waleed Khalid's remarks and seeing no proof of racism, if Mr. Kennedy was a big white guy he likely would be on the private client mailing list in a snap.
You don't have to use the word; how you perceive is how you behave.
11
This sounds like a story more complicated than the journalist wants the reader to think. Is it always about racism? I'm getting racism fatigue.
2
@mainliner
Imagine how fatiguing it must be to be Black in America since you just get tired from reading about racism. Try living it.
53
@mainliner. I am an old white female. I am familiar with this area of Arizona. I am familiar with the privilege all of us white folks have compared to anyone who is a minority in USA. I agree with other comments that old white guys seem to be the least aware - or maybe just the least willing to acknowledge the racism that has been and is currently inherent in our society. It makes me sick.
25
Why the choice of pose and style for the photo of Jimmy Kennedy?
2
Look into his face my friend... it’s all there, sans style and pose... you have to tolerate the fatigue of learning what racism looks like sounds like feels like? Try being him for a day, see how you do.
6
As somebody who has studied discourse analysis (which include the messages conveyed by pictures), I was asking myself the same question. Whoever was responsible for the choice seems to want to make us see him as a threatening person. It’s not only his pose, but even the light and shadows in the picture that give you this impression.
3
“I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on here!” (The croupier hands him his money.) “…Your winnings, sir.” “Oh, thank you very much!”
**Casablanca**
and J.P. Morgan
3
If America was not racist, Merrick Garland would be sitting on Scotus.
18
REPARATIONS.....
Let's just call it payment for ongoing and irrefutable sins....
7
Another nothingburger story.
1
Those JPM folks in Phoenix are incredibly stupid. The bankers I know have goals to meet and need to bring in new business.
Every hungry banker who works for JPM competitors should start targeting black athletes as potential customers.
7
Banks are in the business of making money. For a profit-focused company, it shouldn't matter where the money is coming from, so discriminating against potential clients who could make them a lot of money doesn't make sense.
If JPM lost out on a lot of money by refusing black clients, then a competitor could pick up those black clients thereby increasing its own profits and out-competing JPM.
5
This article has a lot of detail, but also a lot of generalizing statements, and it leaves many questions unanswered. The first recording doesn't show explicit racial bias, and the second is a conversation with a bank employee who is voicing his assumptions. If this were a court, the evidence would not hold. Moreover, there are plenty of reasons why Mr. Peters might not have got the office he wanted while he was working there, and the spokesperson seems pretty certain about the misconduct that got him fired---certain enough that the lawyers allowed her to say so.
I am sure that employees and customers experience racism at JP Morgan chase---there's just no way such a large corporation with as many branches and employees as it has could avoid it---but this is not good reporting. The New York Times needs to start doing better work reporting on race issues. It is unethical to give innuendo and circumstantial evidence the air of truth.
7
Wow. I'm sorry for Kennedy and Peters, but at least they are able to fight back. I'm still stuck on the poor woman who got a settlement for her son's death. I hope she found help.
20
This is a good example of the difference between prejudice and racism. As a white, Jewish male, I might come across people who are prejudiced against me from time to time, but the chances of my being denied a loan, job, or promotion because of it are slim to none. Not to mention the risk of being profiled or wrongly arrested.
25
I was not surprised to read this article though it was very painful to hear about the racism in this bank. I just saw the interview that 60 Minutes' Lesley Stahl held with Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase. The arrogance starts at the top, and not surprisingly, works its way down to the advisors, becoming twisted along the way into what we see in this article.
10
What Mr. Venniro said about the woman who got a settlement after a family tragedy is utterly heartless and beyond ignorant because surely he would know that JPMorgan has clients who didn't earn their own money.
14
Time to pull out of Chase ASAP. Nothing good can come from doing business with a corporation like Chase. If they are 'this" disrespectful to their potential minority top-tier customers imagine how little regard they must have for the personal and financial security of average Joe and Jane.
12
I am not surprised. Banking is full of not so bright people and many of them are racist. I am a substantial JP Morgan/Chase customer and will gladly vote with my business and switch to another bank that isn't racist or corrupt. Anybody have a suggestion?
10
Your local credit union.
14
JPM is a different animal than Chase, I was declined as a JPM private client ( with only $3.9 M ), the type of client that gets counter checks with hidden names. I remember when the manager came over to politely explain why I was turned down, he said " $4M is a lot of money, but it is not a great deal of money". I am jewish, and it was clear that as a banker, they preferred blonds.
8
I've had two careers. The first was in the airline industry for 20 years. There, the employees everywhere were multi-ethnic, multi-racial. I worked along side with Japanese temporarily transferred from Japan, and various other nationalities that were not citizens. If anyone showed any degree of racism, they were gone in a heartbeat. The truth is...I only saw that twice. For the most part, it was like working at the U.N. Wonderful! THEN my second career was with the state government. I won't say which department, but I immediately noticed that the African-Americans and Latinos were segregated in one section of the department. That section had specific duties. They had an AA Director and mirror-image of the predominately white section's hierarchy organization. When the department turned in it's affirmative action numbers, those numbers reflected the department-as-a-whole! So the diversity looked terrific. But it was a lie. That's how some of these organizations get away with racism. And BTW...I worked at that time under a Democratic administration and all the Directors were Dems! I was a life-long Dem and this was my first time seeing the truth behind the Dems. I was very disappointed.
5
Hmmm...JP Morgan? Weren't they the cause of the 2008 financial crash, from which "we" bailed them out despite their fraudulent activities?
What was it that Aristotle said about the evil men do to each other?
The generality of men are naturally apt to be swayed by fear rather than reverence, and to refrain from evil rather because of the punishment that it brings than because of its own foulness."
I guess not ENOUGH fear has been struck into the hearts of the powers that be at JP Morgan. They appear to be constant in perpetuating evil towards others. For decades on end.
I hope the CEO's teeth crack when he attends Christmas service and tries to mouth the phrase "Peace on Earth. Goodwill to men." JP Morgan intends no goodwill towards anyone of color. They should all be denied Christmas bonuses!
7
JP Morgan ad campaign: "chase what is possible." Unless you are black, then we chase you out of our branch.
13
Good one!
2
Imagine what it does to your soul to live with this kind of treatment day in and day out.
18
I don't view myself or other black people as perpetual victims, because victims never win, they simply continue to lose.
Globally, people of African descent are a large majority (not a minority). When you consider the number of black/African millionaires, multi-millionaires, and select group of billionaires, one has to wonder, why this group of elite wealthy blacks (throughout the black/African diaspora) haven't established their own global bank, for the explicit purpose of maintaining and further growing their wealth.
Instead of us, black folks always feeling like a victim, more of us, with wealth, need to create our own institutions and stop relying on others who clearly don't have (and never will have) our best interest at heart.
15
Isn't that the truth?
Is anyone surprised by this? If you are, your eyes about racism in this country are glued shut. Having been reared in the South (I am white.), I've a definite perspective on racism's continuing legacy. It is insidious, constant, and hate/resentment driven and shows no signs of disappearing. It blends well with white, male supremacy - a condition which appears to characterize the entire country. Fairness, equal chances, honest evaluation of workers? Ha! What a joke! Welcome to the hate-filled USA...but you've seen that in Washington, D. C. over and over again.
8
@thinkaboutit. Agree wholeheartedly about the racism in the country that has never been addressed appropriately. I too am white and I will never know the depth of discrimination others experience daily. It is way past time most of our citizens acknowledge the past as well as current damage being down to both our minorities and even to a lesser degree those of so-called lower class or low income whites.
4
Seems to me that every person of color should find another place to bank. Why bank at this sort of a place?
5
That's it! I'm taking ALL my money out of JP Morgan and investing it in rent and food
1
So a black JPMorgan employee, Charles Belton, told Jimmy Kennedy that JPMorgan in essence didn't want his money because Mr. Kennedy was too black and too intimidating. Mr. Belton wasn't serving the best interest of JPMorgan or Mr. Kennedy, An employee which does that should be fired. Mr. Venniro was let go for expressing an opinion not to a customer but a fellow bank employee. What if that conversation between Mr. Venniro and Mr. Peters were the same with the exception of the subject being white; would Mr. Peters have recorded and reported that and would have Mr. Venniro been terminated? A bank has every right to assess risk based on accumulated business history and determine if it is worth their time, regardless of the clients ethnicity.
3
What was JPMorgan's explanation for denying Private Client status to Kennedy? Mr. Belton asserted that it was racism, which would be terrible, but he didn't seem to have any basis for his assertion. Belton should be fired, if not sued for defamation, if he was wrong.
1
Until blatant examples like this are brought to the forefront over and over again and until corporate heads and individuals are forced to understand that this in NOT OK (probably through massive financial judgments) these stereotypes and injustices will never cease.
7
There is not one aspect of American life that is not tainted by racism. This tale is absolutely astonishing. I happen to be a private client at JP Morgan (as Mr. Kennedy was attempting to become), and the notion that you needed more than money for that classification is completely unknown to me. I didn't even ask for it; they simply placed me in that category, and that was that.
The idea that, in this day, a bank would act as is depicted in this article is simply unintelligible. I continue to aver that racism is still, unfortunately, the single greatest social problem in our country.
21
A friend recently told me the story of how her family became very wealthy. Her great grandfather, fresh out of law school and newly hired by a large firm observed a Chinese man being turned away when seeking legal help and offered his services. Turned out that this very simple looking man was a very prominent and wealthy member of the local Chinese community and the great grandfather ended up with all their legal business. Now there is a city named after my friends family! Pays to be kind!
23
When I tried to record conversations with teachers and administrators in NYC public school regarding my 5th grader, I was threatened with legal action. I wonder how these men were able to record their conversations without being threatened as I was. I'm proud that they did.
16
What a terrible way to treat someone. If you think someone is at risk of squandering a small fortune, shouldn't that be exactly the customer you try to help? Isn't it just easier to treat all potential clients the same?
20
The title of this article should have been "What Structural Racism sounds and still look like in the 21st century". When you use the term racism as a general term generally without explaining the history, culture, and how institutions and policies have such a pervasive and profound impact on people of color lives, it undermines and delegitimizes the topic and put enablers on the defensive. The defensive posture and paying millions of dollars to clean up a nightmare PR problem is precisely what all large international institutions like J.P Morgan are adept at and have perfected.
The more appropriate term should have been implicit bias, which deals with the unconscious attitudes rather than conscious. There are vast differences.
18
This is shocking, but not surprising. What I find so appauling is that the bank has the arrogance to "stand behind their decisions" even when there are recorded message to the contrary. It not onlhy highlight systemic racism, but also highlights the power with which banks operate in this country - seemingly above the law.
21
Anyone who works at a big bank can attest to the lame compliance videos that we’re forced to watch that address racism in such a silly and outdated manner that they’re pretty much worthless.
8
Disgusting. The color of money is green...however the color of hate turns out to be the white employees at JP Morgan. This is just the tip of the iceberg in the banking industry. Shame on them!
7
Just this is enough for me to consider moving my banking elsewhere. My concern is where. Who else can I be sure isn't doing this.
8
Community banks are still focused on customer service and being part of their communities. Try them
6
Hey! These Big Bankers are Republican. What do you expect?
10
This is no different than trump supporters claiming they haven't seen any evidence that trump is a racist. Not a surprise that banking is a historically republican-lead industry.
9
JP Morgan Chase - as Donald J. Trump, on his call with President Zelensky, just man-up, accept the facts, and admit it: You Got Caught!
Repentance does a soul good, and, can lead to YOU, JP Morgan, honestly and quantifiably, putting into effect real processes to diminish - cause it will never be wipe out - the instances of Bigotry and Racism as exhibited in this case.
Just Stop Fighting the Truth!
1
I am African American. NYT---let me invite you to further investigations: remodelers who advertise widely a promise they will redesign homes, who set appointments, and upon learning that I am black cancel them; roofers who come out and see your home thinking you will be white and never give you an estimate; HVAC installers, painters, insurance salesmen, do the same. Real estate agents for prestigious neighborhoods (I was once told by a white Baltimore agent there was not a single home for sale in Roland Park---the white jewel of the city). I could go on and on. There is most definitely a syndrome called ignored when "shopping while black" and it goes beyond retail stores.
43
@Sierra, a realtor once told me with a shrug and a wink that I "would have to tone it down" if I wanted to purchase a home in a particular neighborhood. And the neighborhood isn't even all that special, it just reminded me of the neighborhood of my youth with hilly, tree-lined streets.
8
@Sierra. Thank-you for your comments. There are so many Americans that have no understanding of these realities you live EVERY DAY because they do not see it happen to them, they choose NOT to see or acknowledge these realities.
13
Why hasn't Ms Wexler been fired and her boss as well? The culture at Chase in AZ needs to be nuked and rebuilt, along with the necessary personnel changes being made. Jim Crow Chase.
16
All these JPM employees in this story should be fired. ALL of them. Notice how they send in a woman to defend JPM. Disgusting.
I have closed all my accounts with JPM. I recommend everyone do the same.
23
I hope that this article embarrasses Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JpMorgan
14
Waleed - do me a favor and READ the article again.
5
I am totally disgusted by this article and the details that it highlights. It is another shameful mark on "business" and our society!
3
I am so disappointed in the behavior of the JP Morgan culture in Arizona. Somehow Arizona has no respect for the currency of America that is the underpinnings of our world. Discrimination can be handled but to disrespect how we survive as human beings is not a learned processed in Arizona. This is why JP Morgan Chase forked over $24 million. toxic thrump tactics undermine human existence.
4
Also, let's be clear: $24 million is a drop in their bucket.
3
I’m torn. On one hand of course racism runs rampant at all levels; and rich or poor, to be a racial minority one will at some point face racism.
.
On the other hand, when too much attention is given to wealthy minorities who are sleighed in an investment bank (or a luxury retailer) - it understandably creates a backlash. Imagine you’re a poor white person in flyover country. You’ll never have enough savings to use an investment bank. The nearest luxury retailer is four hours away - and you would never be able to afford to shop there anyway. What do you think your reaction will be to a wealthy minority’s story about racism?
2
And yet many of those same people voted for Trump and other millionaire Republican if not billionaire politicians because they believe they understand them better!
Do you see them caring more if a working class black individual claimed discrimination in acquiring a mortgage or a loan? I don’t think so either.
As a woman should I care when any guy claims he is being discriminated against when women have more difficulty being paid fair wages, being promoted, acquiring credit, mortgages, etc?
6
Probably similar to the poor minority folks. First world problem. But I don’t get your point. This is not about class but race. And I also believe, as a white person, that poor minorities are treated worse than poor white people.
8
@ZAW, perhaps they can relate to someone making assumptions about them simply based on appearance or circumstances.
3
Wow. JPMorgan is quite the bank for our time.
Ms. Wexler appears to have graduated from the Sarah Huckabee Sanders School of Scorched-Earth Spokepersoning. Lie constantly and brazenly, and if the lie doesn't succeed, double down and claim the facts are indisputable. Then blame a single employee, as if this sort of thing doesn't depend on an entire organizational culture.
20
Any bank which consciously engages in such retrograde behavior, may be said to be self-indulgent, silly, not to mention anti-capitalist. What, actually, is the benefit, the advantage?
J.P.Morgan, if guilty, is living in a shopworn past.
3
I don't see how one black person speculating to another black person about the motives of white people constitutes racism on the part of whites. Would this be admissible evidence in court? The first recording is evidence of absolutely nothing. The "guilty" banker in the second recording is talking about a common phenomenon: when people who don't have money get a lot of money without earning it, they often blow through it. It doesn't matter what color they are. How is that racist? Clearly, the word "racism" has lost its meaning.
10
@Christina So you're assuming the Black employee hasn't been dealing with racism long enough to recognize it? Ask yourself why It's easier or more comfortable for you to believe Black people are imagining racist behavior, rather than whites are exhibiting racist behavior.
13
Think about a credit union, if you can. This doesn't speak to racism, specifically, but it does speak to inclusivity. More than half of all credit union CEOs are women. https://news.cuna.org/articles/115182-more-than-half-of-cu-ceos-are-female-cuna-research
Not all credit unions have investment managers but some do. Worth a shot.
9
Just another predictable outcome, a result of a nation that began with wounds around race and the effects and scars continue to impact. Maybe the day will come when the wounds are humbly and contritely acknowledged, and the lie of superiority will fade away like so many racists. May it be so!
I'm white and old and this is as clear as the nose on my face.
7
I worked in IT at a large international bank for 17 years. Every year we had to take a number of courses on everything from keeping a clean desk to how to spot and prevent money laundering.
But in all my years there (I left in 2017) we never had a course about sexism or racism in the workplace. (Maybe they've added such courses since I left.)
For decades, societal and institutional sexism and racism have been ignored. It's about time things start to change.
15
A $24 million fine to JP Morgan is like me getting a $35 parking ticket; annoying but no big deal. I'll park where I can and occasionally get tickets. Forfeit JP Morgan's car and I bet JP Morgan will fix their problem.
8
Black customers and managers make JPM's Phoenix clientele nervous. JPM manages money for people, and is not in the business of trying to change their perspectives on race or anything else.
JPM is not set up or equipped to be a moral force, and any company self-promotion that hypes its moral perspectives has all the truth value of public relations.
This is business. This is the way business works. We can and do get business to pretend it does not work that way; such pretense is used to eliminate or derail any attempt to get business to actually work that way.
Business claims that any attempt to get it to actually work that way will mire it in regulations, reduce its profitability, and eventually cripple the economy. Business will verify this claim by hurting the economy in order to get rid of regulation. The claim does double duty as a threat; businesses will seek regulation that is burdensome and unworkable for a while in order to poison the idea of regulation and later get rid of it.
Business can only be regulated successfully when it exists and prospers within a non-business framework in which its voice and power are limited. To put it another way, capitalism works only within a non-capitalist framework, and when it succeeds in eliminating or weakening that framework, it plants the seeds of its own destruction. Recent evidence for this is the 2008 mortgage meltdown.
3
Chase did something similar to my accounts. After getting that “private client” peddled to me and I accepted, a few months later they inexplicably cancelled all my investments, earned rewards, etc and closed all my accounts. I was earning money from a couple of real estate rentals and teaching; nothing controversial. The only thing that’s different about me is I’m neither white nor Asian. Voilà
7
To any reader who can't see the blatant racial discrimination in this story for what it is, tell me: why would anyone who deposits nearly a million dollars in a bank be denied "private client status" when the minimum deposit amount for that status is 250K? C'mon. Same goes for that poor woman who was written off purely due to racial and possibly gender and class bias. Gross. I'm grateful not to be a JPMorgan client, and now I feel it's my responsibility to look at the firm I do use to manage my retirement funds and to take my business elsewhere if they are also implicated in this kind of overtly biased behavior. Ricardo Peters, thank you for speaking out and thanks also to Emily Flitter for writing this important article.
23
It sounds like a $24M settlement wasn't high enough for JPM to change their culture.
8
My first professional job after graduating with an MBA in finance was in the banking profession in Columbus, Ohio. In one instance at the first bank, I was walking with two older male colleagues. We walked past the Federal Building and they both made the comment that they did not like the federal government. Then they also commented that they did not like Black people. I did not join in their opinions and I knew that my career at that bank was over. At the next bank I worked in International lending. We had loans to Argentina but I was against adding to that portfolio because of the political instability. My boss opined that he did not understand why Argentina had problems because there were no Blacks. Then he blamed it on the Italians.
18
I'm not surprised at all. I won a settlement which was small and I deposited a check with JPMorgan from their own bank. It went in as cash, then it was frozen. When I called to inquire about the freeze they told me I had "never made a deposit that large" and that is why they froze the funds. I asked to speak to a manager who informed me it would take two weeks to clear. It wasn't until I threatened to close my account they removed the freeze. I closed the account after that and cancelled my cards. I felt profiled.
10
@Vincent NYC That's a regulatory matter. Banks are mandated to watch out for unusually large or atypical deposits to their accounts, and freeze funds until they have verified that the source of the funds was legitimate. A quick google search will confirm that their failure to do so can result in gigantic fines.
Much of this came out of some high profile instances of big and respectable banks unwittingly (or not) servicing money launderers and other bad actors.
4
@HenryParsons. Thanks for your comment. I just learned something.
I am Latina. I worked at JPM Chase and on two separate occasions and experienced bigotry at the hands of the people I supported. The first time I reported it to HR and was moved relatively quickly. Shortly after, upper management made a comment to the person I supported that I was a trouble maker for reporting the harassment. Within a year my "boss" called me a "Puerto Rican Victim" after responding to a question about reparations. About six months later, I finally left. JPM Chase was my worst nightmare.
32
This sounds a lot more like incompetence than racism.
For example, when Venniro declined to intervene when Peters accused another employee of trying to steal a client, he had no idea that the client was black. How can one accuse him of being racist if he doesn't know the race of the person he's supposedly racist against? Venniro was probably correct in saying that the client was a dead end. People blow unearned money all the time--everyone in finance knows this. But that, of course, is not the point. The point isn't whether the client is good or bad; the point is that a manager shouldn't let squabbles like this go unaddressed.
And I've never met any manager in finance who wants to hear complaints from the client of one of his/her underlings. They probably should've found a better way to accommodate Kennedy's complaint, but again, the evidence of racism is thin.
These seem to be the actions of bad management, not racism.
7
@Byron Only someone who IS NOT a minority and never has had to contend with bigotry or racism at any level would interpret this as Incompetence.
This is the "essence" of what White Priviledge means...
16
I divested from JP Morgan Chase after the 2008 fall. Credit Unions! I own it.
7
I've been doing a lot of reading for months now to correct my criminally deficient education on race relations in the U.S. Is anyone else in this sad situation? If so, I strongly recommend a free (or maybe it was 99 cents) Kindle compendium called Slavery: Not Forgotten, Never Forgiven. Thousands of pages of 19th century writings - biography, autobiography, history, fiction, documents - that explain both the horrible details of slavery and some extremely insightful explanations, from the likes of Frederick Douglass and W.E.B. DuBois and others, of why the taint of slavery is still upon us today. Education and corrective action take time and effort and thought, but knowledge is power. We can stop this disease of racism. We just have to really want to do it.
22
I was employed at Bloomberg LP and felt discriminated as you have no idea. In my 20+ years of career, I've never experienced so much discrimination on gender and racial basis. This article is about JPM, but we can keep going and going around Corporate America.
14
Well this is one bank that will no longer be our banker.
We are removing every single cent and closing every single account.
14
Veil of Ignorance.
To steal from Rawls, this is why in most all human-to-human dealings, a person's physical identity should be hidden because it is not relevant in the initial stages of most anything, and that does include court cases.
[Of course there are exceptions, e.g., legal age is a requirement for most all things financial, legal dealings, etc., but in hiring employees, etc., one usually doesn't need to know anything other than skills, education, etc.]
2
"It's not money she respects. She didn't earn it," say a fellow working in the BANKING industry? A person who sits inside and pushes papers all day? To someone who was injured at no fault of her own? There's a banker who needs to work a year of minimum wage payment at a nursing home, wiping floors, carrying out the trash, and doing laundry, because he's not fit to wipe an actual human.
33
I have worked in retail management. A couple of things I stressed to my subordinates was that it didn't matter what the customer looked like, their money was what kept the place open. Good grief, if someone wants to allow you to manage a quarter million dollars of their money, it really doesn't matter if the person is 6'8" and 300lbs. Just treat them politely, respectfully, and ethically.
20
Chase has aggressively been recruiting new accounts in the Washington area (and I am sure elsewhere as well), promising $$$ for opening new checking and savings accounts. On the basis of this article, how could I? I am a White Anglo Saxon Protestant, not African American, but as an American, I shan't condone JPMorgan Chase's actions.
25
Am I the only one not entirely convinced by Mr. Kennedy's recordings? As far as I can tell, the only thing they capture is a Chase employee voicing his suspicion - backed up by no documentation or even hearsay - that race was behind what may have been a garden variety clerical error or a ball dropped when a client account was transferred from one advisor to another.
In no court in the land would that be admissable as evidence of anything.
8
@HenryParsons, open your mind to the possibility that many people operating in the real world still make judgements of people based on the the personal biases they carry around, and let those judgements affect their business decision-making.
Recently, my wife and daughter went out to get our daughter a new car. They already had a pre-approved car loan, a check that they simply had to fill in the final amount, and a number to the credit union if the dealer had any questions. My wife had done precisely that 2 months earlier without any issues.
She found a car, did the test drive, decided to purchase. All the sales manager (at Penske Honda in Ontario, CA) had to do was process the usual paperwork, accept the check and record the transaction. Instead, he questioned the check, and wanted to run his own credit report, an unnecessary step.
When it dawned on them they were being profiled, they left the dealership and went to another Honda dealership (Spreen Honda of Loma Linda, CA), who completed the transaction enthusiastically. Penske Honda never responded to my email voicing concerns, but at least my Yelp review is still visible.
14
I am usually skeptical about claims of racism and discrimination and think most are overblown and perceived wrongly. But in this case, I think the guy clearly has a valid claim. Further, if I were the director of that bank branch, region, whatever, I would clean house. To send a message, punish, or for whatever the reason; those employees are not only bad for business any way you look at it, they are bad people and I would not want any association with them personally or professionally. If JPM is serious about business, it would act quickly. Let's see.
7
@RB That's one of the perks of being white--you can avoid acknowledging racism by automatically dismissing the thought because it doesn't directly affect you.
8
I have never understood the reasoning of those who discriminate against others because of skin color. It is a waste of resources to do so. In a reverse way, I have it happen to me when I am in some stores because I have such white skin that some Spanish speaking employees think I am not worthy of their attention. But since I speak Spanish fluently and often translate for and assist people with limited English, they often get quite a shock.
I also have to say that in my local bank, the employees include Hispanic, black and white people and the way they treat customers and potential customers is incredible. The flaws the bank exhibits are by policy and current federal regulations/laws. Because of the local employees being so pleasant and attentive, the customers almost uniformly treat them with respect.
Jesus' ministry spoke to treating those with less and who are outcast with dignity and care. I would hope (but know from experience that JPMorgan Chase does not practice this) that all businesses and people would find it appropriate to treat people with respect.
6
Astounding! JPMorgan paid $24 million to end a class-action lawsuit by black employees because of discrimination and have learned nothing. As with what's going on in the criminal justice, insurance, and housing industries, there is systemwide institutional marginalization of Black and Brown folks. This is irrefutable but people refuse to see what's happening right in front of their eyes because it's ugly, mean, difficult, and incongruent with the American national ethos---all men are created equal and if you work hard, you can be whatever you desire. You cannot change something until you acknowledge it as a problem.
423
@D. Elisabeth Glassco They have so much money that they would have no problem doing multiple "hush money" arrangements that will still let them continue to function as they always. Jamie Dimon has the opportunity to correct this once and for all. The question is - will he?
15
@D. Elisabeth Glassco Almost always, people or businesses that get out of trouble by settling suits go right back to doing what got them in trouble. They just get cagier about how they go about it. Which means, while some people get some money out of their troubles (often not what they should have gotten, in fairness), settling rarely acts as a real deterrent or punishment for the biggest offenders.
Just ask Donald Trump.
31
@D. Elisabeth Glassco JPMorgan $24 million to end a class-action lawsuit by black employees because of discrimination and have learned nothing ?
Back in 2016, as a result of their greed, criminality and breathtaking ineptitude they and their co-conspirators in the "financial banking" racket nearly bankrupted the U.S. and did material harm to the economies of just about every country on earth. I hasten to point out that this was during the watch of the GOP (the "business party"). Then, when things hit rock-bottom and we were staring Great Depression 2.0 in the face, The American Taxpayer (you and me) were given the golden opportunity to bail them out. Which G. W. Bush did, on our behalf. And, of course, none of the criminals in the "finance sector" ever saw the inside of a jail cell. And, they didn't even have their billion-dollar bonus checks reduced.
Why should they bother to learn anything ? They've already learned the most important thing which is, fraud, malfeasance and theft are crimes they are entitled to commit with total impunity.
27
The New York Times may want to vet it’s source a little bit better when it publishes a story like this.
Please google Mr. Peters in the Clerk of Court in Seminole County Florida.
5
Why don't they just admit it? They have at least two recording to prove that they've been racist. You know they cover their backsides because they stand to gain from lying rather than just telling the truth. That they mistreated employees and clients unfairly and with bias
6
Why is any of this not remotely surprising?
"That's just the way it is..." is the most dangerous habitual thought process.
7
This is how racism works in today's business world. People of color get hired in order to minimize or prevent oversight from public agencies and the media. Then they're treated like "the help," rather than as valued employees. Harder to spot, and harder to challenge. Good for the employees of Chase who refused to play the game. I'm happy that someone got fired over this, but certain that he will soon find another job in this corrupt and venal industry.
16
This is why we need Eliz Warren as Secretary of the Treasury.
3
You can fire a few mid-level managers for getting caught expressing racially prejudiced views that are privately shared by their fellows, but this in itself does little more than make everyone more guarded in what they say out loud. The problem of changing the culture that nurtures racist attitudes and practices is a far, far thornier one. "Culture" is that which binds the members of the bank to each other, gets them all thinking and acting along the same lines, and makes the organization effective at managing wealth. But discrimination is at the heart of matters of money and wealth - to get the clients they want, they have to keep the wealthy satisfied while excluding the rest. What do the wealthy look like? Well, they aren't big black men from poor backgrounds who were linemen for the New York Giants. However much money the latter have, they aren't "us," and will never be - at least if the rich have any say in it. Joe Millionaire doesn't want to meet a big, black man in the Chase offices, and certainly doesn't want some "N-word" managing his investments. The bank is faced with a difficult situation: if it were to change ITS culture, it fears it will no longer fit the culture of the (white, male) clients, who will take their money and go elsewhere, which they can easily do. And so they shuck and jive. They make examples of a few patsies who got caught, and institute some sessions on how NOT to get caught. A few more minority hires is probably the best that can be hoped for.
6
Any successful bank cares about only one color...green. Maybe too much.
2
Caught in a blatant series of lies, JP Morgan will "investigate"? Seriously?
317
@MB I agree. If they lied about the racism, they'll lie about looking into the incidents
39
What this all amounts to is attempted financial genocide.
5
If JP Morgan has no more business sense than to turn down a client like Mr. Kennedy, then they need their own advisor! It's just stupid, and they deserve no more respect for them than I have for Wells Fargo!
6
Racism is mentally exhausting to ADOS/Black citizens, it destroys our life, spirit and soul. No matter your education level, class or education if you are Black this is your experience in your own country.
14
@Hayward JOHNSON
Racism is mentally exhausting to ADOS/Black citizens, it destroys our life, spirit and soul.
You shouldn't have that mindset. That's exactly how racists want you to feel. Every mentally, and spiritually defeated black person is a victory for these people that must look down upon you to feel better about themselves.
Your spirit and soul should be the strongest part of who are. Connect with your inner spirit, know that you are the descendant of people strong enough to survive the Middle Passage, slavery, Jim Crow and modern racism. Know that the best and brightest black Americans have contribute to building this country in every field of endeavor; be it art, science, engineering, music, literature, and medicine despite the obstacles thrown in their way. Once you know this and know who you are as a person nobody can take that away from you.
2
No material facts in this article prove any racism. This is just a bunch of claims by a disgruntled former employee and customer. Let them have their day in court and prove their case. You know, some people are overly sensitive to the point that they see racism where there is none. One of the employees admited the he did just that as a matter of practice. Absent any evidence, he assumes non-blacks are racist. Nothing here is even worth reporting on, but the author already has his mind made up that there was no reason for JPM to do what they did. The bias is obvious by simply looking at the claim of fact in light of the lack of evidence. Pathetic"journalism".
7
And some people are overly DEsensitive to the point that they refuse to see racism. Especially their own.
4
Prejudice is wrong, a moral failure and it needs to stop. And it can be stopped. Even further, as another commenter pointed out, prejudice is bad for business. The prejudiced banker turned down over $300,000 in business from one woman and at least $800,000 in business from the former NFL player. That’s stupid and unproductive. Time for JP Morgan and pretty much every other institution to train and retrain on elimination of bias. This article can serve as a case history in a training. Stupid, damaging and wrong. And treatable.
5
Sometimes the worst of times provoke us to finally face the deep and systemic issues of this nation. JP Morgan is typical of the institutions that make policy and have power over all citizens in the United States and the world. Until we truly become "woke" and irradicate the GNP orientation all of our institutitions, policy, traditions and belief we will continue on the path of destruction that seeps into every aspects of our lives. That racism, sexism... all seem to be "noticed" by those at the top makes me aware of how absolutely terrible it is for those of us who have no economic power, no access to the media or spotlight to air our astute and debilitating experiences.
3
If you fail and your black then by all means be sure to bring out the race card. I wonder why their doesn't seem to be an issue of racism in the NBA. Oh that's wright I am color blind and I don't see the lack of diversity. Or maybe I now like the status quo and it favors me as a black so why should I care. The problem is you have to prove your worth and then you can claim meritocracy. Stop claiming racial bias and earn your way in life and you might come to the realization that their are forms of bigotry that everybody learns to deal with without raising the race card. Besides the race card has been claimed for so long that it no longer is worthy of consideration it is just a lapse of good judgement by the person claiming it who is unwilling to face the reality that their may be a real issue about their failure to succeed in life that they don't want acknowledge about themselves. Quit whining and be realistic and learn to contribute to society instead of always thinking you are owed something you don't deserve.
6
And with directives from you, “Quit this / quit that / be more like me”
Maybe just maybe YOU might need a little nudge to stop assuming that you know what everyone else’s experiences are or what they SHOULD be.
Usually - when my fellow citizens report to me that there’s a problem - I’ve found it’s better to LISTEN and turn off my superiority complex that makes me feel the need to TELL them what they’re supposed to say and how they’re supposed to feel.
How about a little less being-in-the-know and a little more actual learning.
8
@JLC, I hope you have a parachute with you for that leap you just took.
A man with $800,000 was treated in a manner that caused him to take his business elsewhere, and the bank that did it has been fined in the past for illegal discrimination.
Everything else in your comment is a reflection of your bias.
3
@JLC
Let's go ahead an unpack all the stereotypes and racial resentment presented here:
You obviously mad you can't play ball go enough to be in the NBA. While you are complaining be advised that the NBA looks for talent all over the world, Europe, Asian, Africa, the Middle East they don't care. One of the emerging sensations on the NBA is Luca Doncic, he's from Slovakia.
Jimmy Kennedy was good enough to have a career in the NFL. Sports is one of the few fields in American life that is close to a pure meritocracy. Thousands, play college football but only a few hundred are good enough to get drafted and play in the NFL.
So here you have a man that did everything you are complaining about, worked hard, was financially successful, earned his way in life, yet he was still treated unfairly. But you are too blinded by your hate and resentment to see any of that.
2
With a former employer, one of my white coworkers quickly assumed our only black coworker stole $20 from our front register, when in fact, another coworker just misplaced the money. It’s such a shame.
11
Elizabeth Warren has a plan for this
Had Jimmy Kennedy had $130 million instead of $13 million, they might have tolerated him. He seems sincerely on investing money for his future and not spending it on frivolous things. But, as we see, that's not how rich white bankers see it.
This is where former athletes like Junior Bridgeman are an example and need to get involved with current athletes who want to invest for their futures.
In cases like this, black athletes need black financial planners to guide them where white planners won't.
2
The only thing surprising about this is that they got caught.
8
Racism is in JP Morgan is not unique . Racism exists in all sectors from government job to private sector, At this time of Trump , racism is getting nourishment from the administration. As a country , we are going backward.
9
“You stated that Mr. Belton informed you that our firm was prejudiced against you and intimidated by you because of your race,” the letter said. “We found no evidence to substantiate your allegations.”
Absence of evidence ( of existence or truth) is not evidence of absence (of non-existence or falsehood) UNLESS there has been a careful search/research for the evidence.
Any bets on How careful the search? or How forthright the spin?
5
Not surprising. Is disgusting that these big corporate entities cover up discrimination at any level - regardless of if it involves race, gender, etc. Do not know what it will take to change such viewpoints.
3
Unfortunately, the author does not offer any reason(s) other than "racism" for black problems within banking, etc., which dilutes the discussion/solutions. Those interested in solutions, should read black authors Thomas Sowell, Shelby Steele, Jason Riley, Walter E. Williams, or watch them on youtube.com
1
@Bob, the man had an $800,000 account. Even Sowell, Steele, Riley and Williams would scratch their heads at the actions of JPM.
3
This article ended pretty abruptly. Come on y'all, it was an engaging read but poor finish. Any update on what came of/is coming of Mr. Kennedy's grievance? Any closing remarks from Mr. Peters on Mr. Kennedy's situation? Did Mr. Kennedy take his money to Mr. Peters' new firm? A brother needs answers.
8
What is amazing to me is that anyone is surprised when this type of story is published. The U.S. is a racist country as evidenced by our obsession with race, color and ancestry. It is also the reason why Trump was elected and is still supported by a large number of Americans.
9
Every human needs to be set up and tested by AI. Tested and stung with totally emotionless analytics. No breathing human should be exempted. Then we can start to see the extent of the human problem. It’s really a human problem.
1
Ai can have biases too unfortunately. We can impose our biases into it’s programming. It’s like our flaws no no limit.
5
AI has been studied and shown to carry and even amplify prejudices. AI is just as problematic as people, if not more.
2
I believe Mr. Peters. I believe Mr. Kennedy. And who could possibly believe J.P. Morgan?
If I come face to face with the creator, I hope I can forgive him for what he did to people he gave black skin.
5
@Joe Aaron What you said is real.
1
This is appalling.
4
It’s chilling. The guy even refused business, 300,000 dollars. That’s some serious contempt.
The bank must be doing so well, it can afford to refuse 300,000 dollars of customer money. Wow. The things hate and contempt lead evil people to do.
Just pure evil. But then, again, this is perhaps the age for that. They’re all coming out of the woodwork as their leader in the White House leads them!!
From bankers doing these things to immigration officers destroying cans of water left in the desert for thirsty immigrants, the evil is out in the open.
Perhaps, that’s better, so one can see it clearly, so where possible one can avoid it!!
7
My brother and I used to va k with Bank of America.
My married name is Anglo; my maiden name is not.
Guess which one of us was asked the citizenship question?
4
I think these people have way too much time on their hands.
3
Glad this was recorded. Suspicions about banking discrimination are discussed regularly by people encountering the bias. But seldom is there proof.
5
The bank is obviously guilty. Like most banks (can you say: "Wells Fargo"?), they act above the law and social justice, then claim innocence. When it comes to money, no other consideration stands a chance.
5
On the other hand, and I realize how personal this is, but I’d like to share what my family looks like and I know for a fact that we are not as unusual as many people may think.
My family on my mother’s side has been here since the Mayflower. I note that because its obvious that we are of British decent, we are.
Fast forward: I’m married to an immigrant from Germany. His sister also an immigrant, has a daughter who married a Black man, so their daughter is bi-racial. His sister’s other daughter has 2 adopted grandchildren who are Black. My son is married to a woman of Chinese decent, my brother after becoming a widower remarried a Black woman from Barbados, his son is married to a woman of Hispanic descent.
The point I’m making is that so many American families look like ours, and when a company harms a person of color they are also harming our families. And they should not think we won’t also try and do something about it. We are a much larger cohort than many people believe.
19
In 2007 or 2008, I had the opportunity to speak with Shaquille O'Neal about an incident I had heard about, regarding treatment at a bank drive-through teller window.
O'Neal pulled up to a drive-through window of his local bank in Orlando, Florida, and wanted to cash a check. He had a substantial amount of money on deposit and was a regular, and easily identifiable, customer of the bank.
The drive-through teller had greeted him by name, but advised him that she could not cash the check unless he produced his I.D, in this case his Florida Driver License. For some reason, he could not produce the license and protested that he was a regular customer, had a substantial amount of money on deposit, the teller knew him, he was a recognizable individual. Not good enough.
Drove out of the drive-in window, parked, went inside, and closed his account.
Make the black man do what you want him to do, not what is right. A small issue of backfire in this instance.
8
@lloyd As a former bank teller I can tell you that the policy and procedures of banks are actually like this. It's the same for white people as well. Not saying it's right but the teller is doing their job. I used to get called "racist" for asking the same questions to black people as I would any white person. After awhile I didn't want to service any race other than white people becuase I didn't want to deal with any suspicion that I was profiling when in reality I was doing my job and trying to protect the customer in front of me.
10
Never place your investments with JP Morgan. Their fees are too high and returns too low.
8
It all starts at the top. JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon got his 60 Minutes interview as the tough-guy whiz-kid from Queens, New York telling the world how he's helping to rebuild Detroit (after he helped destroy the economy) but claims separation from what goes on at the branches as if the branches are not part of his company. To think intelligent, hardworking men and women still to this day must resort to hidden microphones to seek common decency and justice. In order to weed out the bank employees who act on their sad and sorry prejudices, the penalties have to be something other than just money settlements and their dismissal. Senior managers must be held responsible so he or she will make sure their employees comply with the law. If an employee does not, the senior manager is fired and can then seek justice against the employee in a court of law. Let them fight it out. When Jamie Dimon starts losing enough senior managers, maybe then he will pay more attention to the part of the company he seems satisfied to ignore.
9
I started to read this article as if I were a juror, to be impartial. As I read this article, I stated to myself, keep the emotion out of what you are reading. Just read the facts as they came out.
Two questions came to my mind.
1) Was Mr. Kennedy entitled to he treated as a private customer with the added perks because of the level of assets he entrusted to them? Absolutely. Did JP Morgan act in a discriminatory manner? Absolutely.
2) Was Mr, Peters a qualified and experienced individual deserving of promotions and opportunities for career success at JP Morgan? Absolutely. Was he discriminated against because he was black? Absolutely.
My advice to both gentlemen, after they successfully sue JP Morgan, Mr. Kennedy should take all his assets to a company like Vanguard where he would be treated with the utmost respect.
Mr. Peters should seek employment with Vanguard where he will be given every opportunity to have a successful career I believe he would have.
I’m not an employee of Vanguard, but I am a satisfied investor with them for over twenty years.
7
Mr. Kennedy retired and later moved to Phoenix. JPMorgan bankers had been courting his business, but he hadn’t liked the financial advisers the bank had proposed to manage his investments.
I think that sentence needs some explanation.
3
This is the same JPM that had no issues with extending a few hundred million in credit to the six foot five inch tall Adam Neumann, with Jamie Dimon's own blessing, based on nothing more than personal chemistry? The decision makers apparently were not intimidated by his stature. We see how that ended. How do these companies stay in business (unless they really do behave as monopolies)?
9
A black employee tells a black client that the big bad bank is racist against black people, and this becomes evidence that the bank is systemically racist against black people?
Systemic racism is real, but this is about as weak of an example as it gets.
13
You’re leaving out all of the acts and omissions by the bank that surrounded the conversation you’re referring to. Inaccurately representing the facts is a weak way of making an argument.
7
Should be required reading & listening for all those folks out there who think that racism does not exist or is the figment of black imagination.
11
This is why I've gone from the huge assortment of things, walking while black, driving while black etc. to just breathing while black.
That is not intended to exonerate the funeral industry.
5
Dump JP Morgan and hire Mr. Peters.
6
Arizona is not known for its acceptance of equality Remember how long it took them to recognize Martin Luther King day as a holiday? They initially refused. Texas is one place I would never want to live. Too racist.
3
Anyone getting this to Chase? Absolutely disgusting. I want to see their response.
3
Horrifying. Every word of it.
6
Powerful article. Anyone who says that racism is America is a thing of the past is in some deep DENIAL! It is ALIVE and WELL! Period!
8
It's a shame that the top managers at these mega banks can't get kicked to the sidewalk when their bad policies and decisions are made public. Usually, they just use corporate money and pay fines while admitting no guilt.
JPMorgan Chase and Well Fargo folks should be cuffed and jailed until it is time for their trails. Why aren't members of Congress outraged? Why does this stuff just go on year after year?
They ruin people's lives and they should be punished accordingly.
4
Thank you Jimmy Kennedy for stepping up to show me this. The cynicism of the manager on the audio is indefensible and deeply ingrained in my white culture. It is racist and wrong. It took me a minute to connect the dots. I have a Chase credit card (part of JP Morgan) that I was kinda satisfied with, but renewal is coming up and I do not want to support this kind of culture.
5
A reminder to look for a new mortgage lender.
4
@JC, funny you would say that. I ended up a Chase mortgage customer through the normal process of banks buying and selling mortgages. I'm not looking to refi, but all of their solicitations go straight into the shredder.
2
Having worked in corporate America, none of this is surprising. What is surprising, however, is the contention of many people that minorities somehow have easy access to jobs and advancement in American companies. It's just not true. In the companies I worked, you would need a detective to find a dozen blacks. The statistics prove it. Yet so many contend it's easy to get to the top. There are what, four black CEOs now?
15
Agree. The only difference here is that these interactions were documented.
Félix
5
This is despicable behavior by JPMorgan Chase.
Notice I didn’t say,” By their employees,”
We love in Denver and are both white.
We’ve been receiving promotional mailers to solicit our deposits of at least $250,000, which would confer Private Banking status.
It’s supposed to be that simple.
1
As a 72 year-old, white woman, I can truthfully say the absolute worse industry I ever worked in is banking. The sexism and racism was rampant during my brief tenure working in banking. The false hierarchy was well known. Anyone not willing to work in step with it was not kept long.
504
I got a Bank of America Private Banker account, because I had the luck of being white and inheriting $300 K. The private Banker did not like that I just parked it there after getting the estate wire. I told him a 30 year old white guy in Atlanta, I had a hard time investing with him, until I saw him purchase a condo, townhouse or house. it doesn’t make sense at 30, if you want to stay in the city to rent. To meet girls at the pool, not a good reason!
I have used about $200 k to renovate my house. I will get that money back.
Almost all, if not all, major Banks in the US engage in this racist and also sexist discrimination of its clients. Even foreign banks operating in the US, like BMO Harris, also do the same as I personally felt the same from that BMO Harris Bank.
Election of Trump made the situation worse, far worse. His administration virtually destroyed Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) besides other agencies that are supposed to protect consumers from predatory banking practices.
7
Sounds like JP Morgan to Me, I worked there in the Internal Audit function and securities operations from 1987 to 1992. Why is anyone so surprised? This is what we go through, it comes with the territory of being an African American male. Had enough and when to work at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as a regulator
323
@Milton C That's why I won't invest with them. I bet they have a gender bias too
23
As a past employee of JPMC and a victim of the institutionalized racism there, I completely empathize. I was , along with other non white colleagues, relegated to temporary desks (at one point a special desk was set for me and another 'ethnic' colleague in the middle of a busy office intersection when there were clearly other desks available and when we were moved from our desks to accommodate incoming , same grade fresh college graduates, who were all white. I was routinely ostracized in front of colleagues, pestered to drink alcoholic beverages when it was clear I wasn't comfortable with that.
The list of indignities is fairly long. As a new immigrant to the US, I kept thinking I was doing something wrong, not blending in properly, not understanding the culture. If the very thought of racism came to me, I would tell myself that I was making excuses for my incompetence. I would think this is the mid Atlantic , not the deep south. I would think, i am new so this must be a hazing ritual for newcomers but no other person who joined after me appeared to be subjected to this. I resigned without another job in hand after my american wife convinced me, she saw the mental toll it took on me.
I couldn't even imagine recording any conversations I had and I couldn't imagine taking the largest bank in the world to court in an 'at will state' , I am glad somebody did and I hope more of us do. If for nothing, then to send a message that we hear the dog whistles.
29
When banks don't treat me fairly, I pull all the money I can out and transfer it to my credit union accounts. The only way they will respond if people decide not to do business with them.
I am not Black but I am a woman of color who looks younger. On days I am dressed casually and even on days I dress formally, I have experienced poor service where I have been ignored or made to wait longer while others who came after me were served. They're often shocked when they look at my numbers as I am the type of person who is not conspicuous with my spending.
16
This is infuriating to read.
At the same time, judging others makes us feel good and righteous but it doesn't really get us anywhere. We all have racism inside of us and accepting that is the start of unlearning it. It probably never completely goes away. It's like our minds are tuned to a tv channel that we don't like. It's something to get more aware of. Notice when it happens. Try to learn from it and slowly and kindly investigate other options.
7
Strange because former sports stars are generally treated like royalty wherever they go. Every private banker wants to tell his family and friends about a famous client. Also less educated guys like Kennedy are easy marks and often sold the most profitable investment products (for the bank). These accounts generate from 1 to 3% of assets invested in fees so $10 million might easily generate $200k in fess per year. Finally, customers don't change banks frequently so the $200k often becomes a long term annuity for the bank worth a million or more. So this is pretty ugly if it happened as described but with the NYT these days you always wonder if you're getting the full story.
16
JPMC was happy to take his money- and they did! However, they did not bestow on him the special privileges that he deserved after depositing the large sum.
I live in a state where you need both parties' permission to record. There needs to be a change in the laws to make recording criminal or discriminatory behavior legal nationwide so that similar behavior can be revealed without damaging the person who does the recording.
20
A really rational person might think that JP Morgan Chase would conclude that all money, no matter whose, is green, and that therefore green is the only color that matters. Were I a JP Morgan executive, I think I'd try to make that reality clear to every employee, at every level. Or they could become ex-employees. This kind of rot starts with willful ignorance, or complicity, from the very top. As an investor client, I want to believe that the best advisors, regardless of race, are treating me to the best advice, regardless of my race. If JP Morgan Chase doesn't do that for all their customers, then maybe I'll take my green colored money someplace else. Consider that carefully, JP Morgan Chase executives. Green is the -only- color banks should be concerned with. After all, that's the law, too, besides being good business sense. And what more could I possibly look for in a financial advisor than good business sense?
31
Three things I say or ask myself every morning l wake,
1: Thank you Lord for waking me up this morning.
2:Prayers for my Mom who has been in the nursing home since 5/1/15 and pray that I can get financial blessings to remove her and get us a resident and some medical help to be able to take care of her at home.
3:Will this racism ever leave and we are not judged by the color of our skin.
35
Wealthy and Black in Arizona, USA? Who would have thought such an event would happen? Great article!
6
This is not just a JPM problem. I still remember a couple years back working at Goldman Sachs. Every year 10% of employees were cut. The vast majority that were let go were minorities. The irony is that many ended up (and still are) at Google where the standards for hires are much higher.
24
"It’s no secret that racism has been baked into the American banking system. "
Yes, it is a secret. Or more accurately, stating something as if it is categorically true in the general case when there is in fact no direct evidence is a fallacy, if not an outright lie.
"There are few black executives in the upper echelons of most financial institutions"
This is irrelevant. There is no logical reason why any group should have any form of proportional representation in any job in any field. See _Discrimination and Disparities_ [Sowell, a black man].
"Leading banks have recently paid restitution to black employees for isolating them from white peers"
Leading banks have settled lawsuits, because the EEOC can induce racism from statistical disparities under "disparate impact" standard.
In other words, it's cheaper to pay $20 million in a settlement than to risk being found guilty of discrimination on the basis of statistical disparities which BY NO MEANS are necessarily the result of any intentions or dispositions on the part of banks.
This article commits the classic fallacy of composition: what is true of one part (Mr. Kennedy) must be true of the whole.
If Mr. Kennedy was discriminated against because he was black, that is illegal and the transgression ought to be investigated and punsi
2
@Andy You should have listened to the ideology espoused about minorities in executive dining rooms, country clubs, soirées and cocktail parties that I heard about blacks. They talked about their hostility openly. I am black and they did not care. This is why they get sued. It was gag-worthy.
It is hard to get a job when the employers believe that a certain race is biologically inferior. This applied to me when I had the education, experience, contacts and production. The fear and doubt never left no matter how productive I was.
35
@Andy to continue,
If Mr. Kennedy was discriminated against because he was black, that is illegal and the transgression out to be investigated and punished -- but to extrapolate this into general, "systemic" racist behavior is not only a logical fallacy, the evidence does not even begin to suggest such a thing.
2
@Mark Smith I don't doubt your story in the slightest. I am an ethnic Arab, another group that tends to be on the receiving end of suspicion and unwarranted discrimination. That racism still exists is not in question, and when each case is identified must be brought to light and dealt with.
The issue is the fallacy of composition: when you, or a New York Times writer, or anyone else, extrapolates from one, or ten, or a hundred, or even a thousand anecdotes that such racism is "systemic," and when challenged use the circular logic that statistical disparities prove it to be systemic. They do not, and cannot.
If you have not read it, I suggest again _Discrimination and Disparities_ by Thomas Sowell.
Also, I want to thank you for avoiding the personalized and emotionalized rhetoric that often accompanies responses to any questioning of claims of systemic racism as themselves racist. Your circumspection only highlights how tragic the results of racism truly are--results that are obscured and even lost in the seeking after systemic root causes in western civilization or the entire white race.
1
I have a degree in finance from the U of A. After graduation I left because the environment for minorities in suits was lacking. Any black person in commercial or investment banking was an oddity. It is like immigrating to South Africa during apartheid.
As a black banker for many years, the stuff in this article rings true, but the racism in the article is mild compared to what I experienced.
44
@Mark Smith When I was promoted to branch manager early in my career, a customer complained to my bosses about my race. I laughed and they laughed.
They laughed because they thought the slumlord customer was a clown. They did not have a problem with banking him though. I was bemused because an arsonist, who spent time in Attica, and, got a second chance, thought that I was the lowlife.
While he was in Attica, I was in college.
13
I hate to say it, but stories like this make it harder for young African Americans - especially those without an absolutely perfect pedigree - from getting white collar jobs. The bank (which I don't work at or hold shares in or anything else) is being absolutely crucified in these pages, and for what?
A trainee financial advisor not making the cut and getting fired for bringing in insufficient revenue is the rule, not the exception in wealth management. The business is brutal. And if JP Morgan is so hostile to black financial advisors, why did they give him the job in the first place?
Add to that a black employee recording himself stating without a shred of evidence that a black customer's admittedly horrible experience was due to his size and skin color.
JP Morgan now has a PR problem, and at least one lawsuit that it will cost them 7 figures to settle, regardless of whether race had anything at all to do with the events described.
So you're a colorblind but rational hiring manager, faced with two equally qualified candidates for a high risk job. One of them, by virtue of race, carries a higher risk of making a discrimination charge and suing if his/her job doesn't work out. Which one are you going to hire...?
8
@HenryParsons You make straw man arguments. Most employees are at will employees meaning they can be fired on a whim. If the employer acts rationally the suit won’t progress. If an employee asks why the employer can state no reason. Trouble starts when the employer acts dubiously.
It takes years to win a discrimination suit and the behavior has to be egregious.
16
@HenryParsons
this commenter has been making excuses for the obviously bigoted actions of certain employees of JPM all day using faux reasoning to justify and ignore the actions and evidence presented here. Why? Firing Venniro was an admission of guilt. But does not address the top down leadership that perpetuate the bigoted employed. There was no reason to fire Peters, if JPM truly believed in their compliance policy.
4
@HenryParsons using your analogy, men would never get hired for any corporate or teaching job if there were a well qualified woman because men have a much higher incidence of molesting children and sexually harassing other employees. But somehow that doesn’t happen.
4
Dimon's on 60 minutes, touting his involvement with urban America, while his racists employees do the dirty work in keeping Black folks down.
22
So the executive in charge of the JPMorgan’s wealth management, Mary Erdoes, bent over backwards to ensure Jeffrey Epstein remained a client, but couldn’t even bring herself to fire Mr. Venniro? Yet Mr. Peters was kicked to the curb for not filling out his TPS report properly. This is exactly the climate you get when ONLY revenue growth is rewarded, and qualities such as fairness, integrity and leadership are only paid lip service.
40
This article also touches on the big body issue of a former NFL player, which reminded me of the following episode. When they start their carrier, professional wrestlers are strongly educated making every sort of efforts not to intimidate ordinary people on the street. A popular Japanese wrestler in the 70s, Rikidouzan, did not counterattack even when he was attacked with a knife by a bad boy under alcohol. He died a couple of weeks later.
4
Twenty years ago I managed an apartment building in liberal Seattle. It was an upscale building. One day looking over an application, the owner asked me if the applicants were of a darker persuasion.
Still a mystery to me how he divined their race from an application, but he did. In a round about way, much like Mr. Belton, it became clear I wasn't to rent apartments to any people with skin darker than mine. This was in 'liberal' Seattle.
My belief is that racism comes from a feeling of self-hate. Of, at a deep level, not feeling good enough. If you don't feel good about yourself, your days are spent proving you're better than everyone else. It's easier to feel better than the downtrodden, the marginalized and the poor folk. Plus, you can get away with keeping them in their place, so you can feel better about yourself.
20
I moved to Seattle recently from Atlanta to attend UW and this comment resonates as this problem is still a reality in the present moment. And although I struggled to find an apartment that would rent to me despite meeting all the qualifications and requirements, the racism is rampant on all fronts, beyond leasing offices. This place is racist while putting up a liberal front to “feel better about themselves”. Dare I say it, but this place is more racist than where I grew up in the South. The oppression, discrimination, and bias is unreal. Definitely question my decision to move here everyday.
8
@J I agree and the murder of John T. Williams by a Seattle Police officer in broad daylight as he was walking down the street minding his own business was the catalyst that woke people up.
He was acquitted of any wrongdoing of course. Years of a citizens committee fighting for change in the department led to some changes and the days of Seattle police indiscriminately singling out blacks and minorities is behind us. But it was ugly for years.
And blacks are leaving Seattle. They've been priced out of their neighborhood, The Central District. Those left behind will feel, I'm sure, even more marginalized.
When I moved to Seattle in '96, from California where I was used to black and brown and Asian faces, it was so white, it felt weird. In just those twenty some odd years, the racial complexion has shifted. Washingtonians simply weren't used to an integrated population and, I think, weren't pleased.
Forty years ago I sued Chase for race and sex discrimination as part of a group of women employees who could see the handwriting on the wall for our careers after three years of watching the white male trainees leap miles ahead of us in terms of opportunities and promotion. As a young black woman, my fate was to be transferred from one training program to another. We settled out of court but I and another Jewish woman were the sacrificial lambs who were terminated for being too outspoken.
Forty years!?! And nothing has changed.
60
One more reason I'm glad I got out of Chase!
8
Could someone please tell me what is wrong with allowing ethnicities to live by each other? (For the record, we're all the same race, the human race, we just differ by our ethnicity)
3
They're allowed in every state. The problem arises when we sleepwalk towards immoral, dehumanising, and discredited South African policies of Segregation. And move away from Rev. ML King's eloquent Dream.
Also, weren't we looking for real solutions that reduce unfair and illegal race bias in banking and beyond?
Institutional transparency, affordable legal recourse for legitimate cases, and creative local policies? Tech has evolved, police have cams to foster transparency, why not record ( /- speech to text) all interviews and meetings for raises and layoffs.
Technology can revolutionise work place fairness.
1
Wasn't the CEO of Merrill Lynch who blew it up black? And the comments about the lady getting 5ßßK really apply to all those who don't earn it white or black? We hear these stories all the time about lottery winners. Divorce lawyers say the same thing. There are bigger issues in this country.
3
Regarding your first question, many white men have done so too. Should white men be denied jobs and promotions because all those who brought down Enron were white?
17
@AS And the former ceo's performance reflects upon all black people as some indicator of how other unrelated black people will perform? Are you coming close to realizing the many things your statement reveals about you?
where is Jamie dimon? why isn't he getting
involved?
9
I would appreciate if the NYT could state Mr. Peters new advisory firm in Arizona. I'm in need of a new financial advisor and he seems bright, honest, and hardworking.
Thank you
36
@robert
There's an online service that can help you find Peters. Just go to google dot com and fiddle with it for a while until you get the hang of it.
3
This shouldn't surprise anyone. America has always been a racist nation and until whites are finally just another minority in the 2040s, and people of color achieve more positions of leadership within our government and corporations, I really don't see things getting any better. VOTE, people. VOTE.
19
And unfortunately, this systemic, unexamined racism of white folks of status, power or influence is one reason the current President will not be removed from office. I grieve for the future of my children because at times I do wonder if American White Folks actually have a soul.
11
Some of us do. Some apparently don’t.
8
What kind of message this egregious behavior sends to black folks who are trying to achieve prosperity. I thought America was a land of opportunity except if you are black person. How can you tell someone to try hard while everything is being done behind closed doors to exclude him/ her to thrive.
14
A shakedown of a bank using the race card. What surprise. NOT
5
Let me get this straight: A black customer is mistreated by 2 black bankers and so the bank is to blame for systemic racism?
Mr. Kennedy's "Private client" application was eliminated when Mr. Peters got fired for being incompetent. Mr. Benton tried to smooth it over by telling Mr. Kennedy that it was because of racism. Now they all are crying to the NY Times?
Mr. Kennedy should choose his bankers based on quality of service not the color of their skin. And Mr. Peters and Mr. Benton can go to heck.
5
Read the article again. Your synopsis is not what happened. Is this some kind of Trump disease that people cannot read facts?
12
LOL! Of course they found "no evidence to substantiate your allegations". Do you expect them to tell the truth and say, "Oh yes, we are a bunch of bigots"?
13
Yeah, the big, fat corporate arrogance. Threatin everyone as a subordinate. Of course, it is clear we should give our vote to those who promise to break the too big to fail, too large to care businesses in smaller, more manageable, more approachable, more compassionate entities. "Ms. Wexler said the problems were caused by administrative errors." - what does that mean? When they screw up they get to blame administrative errors? Guess what, stop administering everything and you'll make less errors. They will never find themselves to blame, they are too far above that, and only a decisive executive action can get them back to their good senses.
6
He should have applied online
3
Much of this case is based on Mr. Bolton’s imagination of other people’s thoughts and reasoning, right? There are recordings. But the recordings are of someone assigning motivations that he believes exist. He may be right. But he may very well be wrong.
I’m no fan of JP Morgan, but this seem a bit contrived.
8
What other reason could Mr Bolton provide for the bank inconveniencing a client who was bringing in money.
Mr Bolton had to explain to this client (of the record) that there really was no good reason. Under normal circumstances banks welcome money coming in.
1
JP Morgan ought to be very ashamed of what they are, to think that I have transacted significant sums through them irritates me from reading this, we are better than this, thanks NY times for reporting. This is the hidden part of the overarching problem we have in this country. Race is going to be our downfall as a great Nation.
7
Without recorded evidence this article might not have existed. Such recordings would have been considered illegal in my state and many others.
6
@William ... legal or illegal, sometimes the only way to get the truth is to get the tape... No matter how you get it.
2
I vaguely remember that they sent me a special medical form, when I applied for a position, declaring whether I am sane or I have a record of some sort of mental illness (depression, bipolar disorder, psychosis etc.). It must be a standard practise but it is unique. It is disappointing to see what they do with their healthy workforce after putting so much effort in filtering out people with medical history. It makes me wonder that perhaps healthy is the new unhealthy. I often alert people with any kind of medical history to not apply for jobs and try to be self-employed.
3
Money knows no race. It's crazy that JPM/Chase is turning away people's money. What are they, stupid?
7
Racism is alive and well in 2019. Instead of seeing the color of our money, they only see the color of our skin.
12
Yeah Arizona. Another Republican Paradise.
16
Boycott. Simple.
11
To wrap it up: JP Morgan is a racist bank! The recordings prove it!
8
The recordings prove that a black employee who believes he has been discriminated against because he is black told a black customer that he would probably be discriminated against because he's black. The employee is now in a lawsuit against JP Morgan and I'm sure has repeated all this in depositions by now What is so special about some supposed secret recording in which the employee makes these allegations? Sorry this makes no sense.
2
@JerseyGirl it is very clear from the article that there is an element of racism. If not , why would an Executive Director get fired, why would somebody bring a suit against their employer when it will ensure that they wont get to work in that industry again or probably for any employer because it will show up in their background check?
2
America is a whitewashed disgrace.
And I say that as a white man.
Those who deny white privilege are either clueless, oblivious, unconscious...or just good old-fashioned, privileged, white supremacists.
36
This is so disturbing and disgusting!! JP Morgan must do better...
12
Hmmm--- a couple of cherry picked examples that fir the NYT agenda and suddenly we have examples of wide-spread racism. No stats. Using journalistic standards such as these one could justify literally everything.
You can probably find as many examples where an African-American received preferential treatment because of their race. But we won;t read about such cases in the NYT.
4
Oh, we just need someone in NY to stard recording!
@Kai with what has been done to African Americans over the history of this country, a tsunami of 'preferential treatment ' is not enough. Imagine if they could bring a class action suit against this country based on current standards for what was done to them and how that still scars them centuries later.
I feel like black people always gets the short end of the stick. This is not right.
9
racists never think they're being racist. they just think they're "telling it like it is."
28
@slightlycrazy ... true that. I knew a white guy you said he would never vote for a black politician, but was happy as a clam when he sold his house for top dollar to a black family. And BTW, things are not going well for him. Karma. Glad I could watch it.
2
Wonderful article! Sounds just like “America’s Structural Racist System “! It’s any wonder black people are still fighting for equality and justice! The ENTIRE System was built on this policy! It’s when black people have resources..... to participate in this money market game, they’re denied the right! That’s just SHEER RACISM! Why are white people so THREATENED by black men/and women included? Yet they OWN everything....a quote from Professor Glaude, “This is America, it’s the underbelly.......RACISM! A woman Chieftain says to white people, “You need to start your healing”’
6
Just another day being a black person in this country and having to face the everyday indignities of being such. There is a financial, mental, physical, psychological and lethal tax on being black. No other category of people face the amount of nonsense blacks have to put up with.
14
Well I can tell you that it is no fun listening to all the victims constantly whining about their victimhood.
1
@T yes, the inconvenient truth is no fun for anyone, especially the victims
2
JP Morgan mist do better. I honestly feel no one under 40 years old should be a racist. This is so sickening and disgusting!! Citibank is low key racist also, I went in to open a trust account and the manager was pushing out the door to go to other branch if I did not want to wait.
4
Why isn't this article on the front page? NY Times, please commit to exposing racism and social injustice every day front and center and furthering social justice every day on the front and center of your paper.
8
What took you so long!
NYT!!!
Nothing new.
6
Not dumb enough to be blatantly racist? Sure they are and with the racist in chief in charge these racists feel empowered.
11
The evidence presented doesn't convincingly support the accusation that JPMorgan is racist.
It does, however, present a convincing case that JPMorgan is incompetent and not a place where I would want to place our money. And we have some of our money there, so will be reviewing this decision immediately.
Glad to have this information.
5
@Travelers I agree. However, if there is resolve at the very top, this sort of thing will not happen. I can tell you as a former employee and a 'minority',the indignities heaped on me were routinely witnessed by at least 50 people (open plan office). I had no allies. Nobody stuck their neck out for me. I don't blame them. The culture did not allow for that to happen and the culture is established at the top. You can consider that just another piece of anecdotal evidence or may perceive that as a testament to my incompetence, in either case I thank you for voting with your money
People put it out there, we're talking about race. Some people pretend they like you and yes, they are doing the motions. However, the person who is receiving the racism feels it.
Just because you say something, doesn't mean you feel truthfully. This article shows this. Reading between the lines, one knows. If one is of a darker hue, one knows.
This article though is sad. This means that banks intentionally destroy a black person's money. They intentionally provide low grade, bad advice.
JP Morgan Chase is not the JP Morgan of old. It is a watered down version where the remaining Chase (after it folded, left remnants) merged with JP Morgan.
There is a JP Morgan Investment Branch. The one thing about NYC, the money didn't seem to have a color. Working in the Tech industry in one of the main buildings, many a black if they had the wealth were given the best investment advice.
This is not a good thing, but I am thankful the NY Times reported it.
3
Mr Kennedy must be very big. It seems a large part of the concern, according to Mr Belton, was that Mr Kennedy inspired fear in his colleagues at the bank. He never made clear whether Mr Kennedy would have been treated differently if he were my size (135 lbs). Either way, my best wishes to both Mr Kennedy and Mr Peters.
3
What is especially sad about this story is that Mr. Belton, a black man himself, felt the need to defend the bank's racist policies. He became a facilitator in order to keep his job. This shows how systematic and indoctrinated the discrimination is. Having worked in large financial institutions myself, I've seen how marginalized groups are used to market diversity and inclusion, showing how "happy" they are to have a job with such admired institutions.
15
I think it would be a good idea for some sharp black financial people to start their own private wealth management bank. There's always going to be a certain amount of racism in these institutions. Perhaps, over time, it will slowly get better, but there will always be issues. Thank God we have lawsuits that can keep them in check.
8
@Sirlar You cannot legislate respect. People just get better with their duplicity.
1
Where is Mr. Peter's working now? I'd like to invest with him.
5
Is Belton who is black the one who is guilty of racial bias in telling Kennedy he was "too black" and "inexperienced" at least in Kennedy's mind? Or was Kennedy guilty of racism for believing that Belton was "inexperienced".
These are complex social interactions that are not always so easily explained as racism especially when those that are making racist statements such as "too black" or labeling a black employee as "inexperienced" are black.
2
JPMorgan’s conduct is stunningly bad on two counts:
1. It is racist.
2. It is bad business. Mr. Kennedy had $800,000 on deposit and likely would have provided JPMorgan additional business opportunities. He deserved an excellent financial advisor. Mr. Peters appears to have been an enterprising banker, eager to advance. JPMorgan should have facilitated this, not demoted and alienated Mr. Peters.
Wretched conduct by JPMorgan.
14
Are there any top black executives at JPMorgan. How many? If a bank denies private banking privileges based on race what can the denied potential client do?
2
Anyone who has dealt with any large organization, especially a highly regulated financial giant, has dealt with this kind of ineptitude. Racism is actually the least, not most, likely explanation for it.
We have NO idea how well Ricardo Peters performed as a financial advisor, and those guys get fired all the time. If you don't bring in enough business, you're gone. I know a zillion pedigreed white country club types who washed out of the wealth management business early on.
And the ONLY "evidence" of racism here is another JP Morgan employee, an African American, recording himself stating that's the only explanation, but offering no additional evidence.
If a white guy recorded himself telling another white guy that he was being discriminated against for being white, how seriously would anyone take it?
2
I do not like big banks, period. They are like vultures. Plus to be treated so shabbily? I wonder sometimes when white people get social security payments or other benefits, what if the check said, 'This check was possible due to the hard work of people of all color'! Would the recipient reject their check? Same with these big companies. They want money/deposits from all customers but just don't want to give them same benefits as their white customers! Glad the conversations were recorded for everyone to hear what happened.
3
The head of this business unit at JPMorgan is a prominent African American, Thasunda Duckett.
1
@DR
She is nothing but a puppet, public relations, a figurehead!
3
@Pike Wow ,it is no wonder people cannot get ahead. Where is the respect for her, if nothing else?
This country never ceases to disgust me. Over. And over. And over.
7
This may not be an exhaustive list but there are examples of black owned banks that deserve to be considered by Americans of all races and ethnicities. https://www.watchtheyard.com/life/black-owned-banks/
6
@Frank They are controlled and regulated. 54 Countries in Africa and no BANKS?
All Scripted And Controlled
Private client?
Thank you Jamie Dimon!
2
Wealth managers want stable clients who are not difficult to work with and understand money and investing. They especially want accounts that make the bank money. A person with newly found wealth/aggressive type A personality can be a real pain and not worth the time. Just read the CFA level III candidate chapters on wealth management to understand the problems in managing clients.
2
@Peter Is that really the point or just another way of saying whites only?
8
@Peter I worked in banking for decades. You do not know your customers habits’ until they become customers.
11
I agree about the endemic racism and discrimination. But I wonder: Jews faced discrimination for centuries and yet they survived and thrived by developing their own institutions. Armenians were discriminated against in the Ottoman Empire and they also thrived, attaining some of the highest government positions in the empire. Why do Black people even bother using institutions that are prejudiced against them?
Ricardo Peters, the financial advisor who was fired, opened his own private investment firm. He did absolutely the right thing. Now why would Mr. Kennedy not immediately move his investments to Mr. Peters' firm, especially considering that they had such a great rapport? It seems to me that, as more and more African Americans move up the economic ladder, they could beat racism simply by nurturing and patronizing talent in their own community. Eventually, the racists will have to come to the table.
This is not to endorse racism in any way or to say we should not fight racism, but until racism goes away, is this not a pragmatic solution?
23
@Ara these are all fine points. But Mr Peters opened up a wealth management firm and is limited in terms of what range of services that he can offer Mr. Kennedy. The client still needs to have access to checking, savings, line of credit, credit cards, online banking, mobile banking that a modern day bank can offer. I would recommend a black owned bank if available in the region or possibly a credit union.
7
Sorry, but the branch manager was probably spot on in his resistance to a low/no income prospect whose sole asset was a $372k lawsuit settlement. Even before the taxes, that's not going to yield much in fees, and given the prospective client's limited earning power, very likely to shrink, not grow over time.
It is an unfortunate but statistically unimpeachable fact that people with limited financial literacy - black, white or purple - tend to burn through monetary windfalls quickly.
8
Isn’t the point of a financial advisor to help clients make smart investments? Or are you suggesting that they don’t actually do anything and it is all up to the client to make smart financial decisions without guidance? $372K is most certainly a growable amount of money.
51
Henry. so they should not have access to a professional who might help them avoid various pitfalls? like putting various amounts in accounts with limited access? maybe put some aside in high yield accounts for family, etc? Poor literacy is not a permanent end point. It can be changed, should be. Plus plenty of people getting such wind falls are frugal. there is always the contradiction.
16
@Heather Financial advisors typically charge about 1% of assets, so before taxes, Chase's revenue opportunity with this client was about $3,500 a year. Is it growable? Yes, but only if the client a) doesn't draw down on it, and b) makes regular additions to it from outside earning.
Try to imagine yourself living at or near the poverty level, with bills to pay, children to feed, and similar needs - not wants - that have to be met *today.* It would take superhuman willpower not to draw down on a six figure windfall accessible from any ATM. To use that money to feed hungry children or make the rent is entirely rational, but so is the decision to decline that person as a wealth management client.
as I read the Comments on this article , I think many of the readers need context into what a $1 million dollar account means to a company like JPM and , more importantly, what it means to an advisor like Mr. Peters.
Many assume Mr. Peters was a ‘success’ in the field based on mention of some kind of award he won and his upward mobility at JPM until the episode described in this article.
What the article doesn’t address is what does it take to make a living as an advisor? Mr Kennedy’s 800k and the ‘ Section 8’ woman’s 400k would be just drops in the proverbial bucket for Mr. Peters to make a living as a broker.
At an expected yield for JPM of about 65 basis points for AUM ( assets under management) and a payout ratio of 25%, in order for Mr Peters to earn 70k per year ( a modest living in terms of this industry) , he would need to have about $43 million under his management. For this story to have a larger meaning than ‘just another guy looking for an exit paycheck so he starts recording random conversations’, the bigger picture needed to be revealed.
And it should be noted that there is no race that has a monopoly on throwing shade at the boss in order to get an ‘exit package’ with the threat of a lawsuit. White guys and gals do it too, all the time.
9
@jim m That is not the point. At what point are truly equal in America?
3
@R4L ----as i said to someone else who seemed so appalled: do you think being a person of color is easier in Europe? Asia?.... you don't have to think long about it, the answer is NO.
Yes, there is racism in the USA, but no one is throwing bananas at sports figures as happens regularly at the highest levels of European Soccer leagues.
It is far from perfect here, but it is still better than anywhere else.
1
@jim m
Having live in Europe, I can say that is patently false. Yes racists live everywhere. But I did not feel the sting everyday as I do in the US.
7
I myself was a victim of Chase Bank, they closed my credit card on allegations that I defrauded the IRS of $95 Million dollars. The linked my name to a someone who wasn’t me. They hurt my credit score, and I never recovered fully from the financial impact.
6
@Frank Peralta A credit union would probably have treated you better.
While I appreciate all of the pieces that document, in detail, the problems we still have as a society on this and other issues, what I really want is ideas on how we can work through this together and become a more cohesive, equal society. I try to monitor my own behavior and responses because I know my thoughts and behavior are not perfect. But I try to stop it in my own head before it gets out verbally or as behavior. After 59 years, the instances where I have to self-correct are pretty few and far between. All of this just makes me both angry and sad.
1
Being on the West coast, I got to this article "late," as always .
For your readers, JPMorgan-Chase is hardly the only bank that treats men of color and all women differently. I am grateful that Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Peters had the ability to record conversations--come to think of it, I wish I'd had the ability to record a telephone conversation with someone at another Big Bank, but in California, it is illegal to record conversations with a person without their permission. (This wasn't one of those "we are recording this call for your protection/service monitoring" messages that come with most 800 calls, alas).
Keep digging on the story, please--all people of colors and "white" women are treated differently across the spectrum of financial services. And at some point, "code words" and "dogwhistles" will be proven to be what they are--I hope.
Respectfully,
Lynne Henderson
4
Just a comment about investing: Dump JP Morgan, and if you have a long investment horizon put a large portion of the money in a low fee S&P500 index fund, some of it in low cost conservative bond funds (tax exempt if your income is high enough), and bank enough cash to handle emergencies. Investing is not rocket science, even though investment advisors would not admit it. Actually, shopping at the supermarket is more complicated.
9
How much wealth owned by Black Americans is in American Banks that routinely treat Black customers this way? A handful of wealthy Black financeers need to open a private bank for wealthy black customers -- whites won't be excluded, per se, just treated the way mainline banks have treated their unwanted Black customers. Let's watch the money drain out of these racist institutions when there is competition available. Then let's watch them all gradually change their tune.
15
@Laurie Knowles There are and have been plenty of black-owned banks. The fact that you aren't aware of that stems from the fact that they are pretty low profile and there isn't tons of demand for them.
From that we might conclude that a) the vast majority of african americans don't encounter discrimination at their bank, and/or b) the banking industry actually isn't ignoring the business opportunity staring them in the face from 15% of the US population.
3
Black owned banks are primarily in neighborhoods that are majority black. It limits their growth. You see the same thing with Chinese banks that specialize in serving that community. If there was a properly capitalized bank that was minority owned, and focused on growth in all communities and treating all customers fairly. it would have a better chance of growing quite large.
6
I'm not surprised, given the fact that Jamie Dimon is the CEO of JPMorgan Chase . . . his public persona exudes an air of white, country club privilege.
12
@Paul You know a lot of billionaires - white, black, asian, whatever - who don't exude the exact same thing? I don't.
This is all the more poignant after one considers what the white financiers did with our money ten years ago.
17
Is Ms. Wexler still with the Bank? If so, that tells you right there that it will be business as usual at the Bank with respect to its racist corporate culture.
12
If you want to take full stock of racism, prejudice, bias as well as age, health and sex discrimination, then investigate banks to see what happens when widows, especially aging widows with either the onset or full blown Alzheimer's disease, are left with large estates that bank's view as their own private piggy bank.
It's open season on elderly, ill and handicapped women. That would be a real story.
16
The way the national game is played those recording the conversations will be prosecuted for making the recordings.
The racist game players will florish even though they passed on lucrative business with an African American.
I hope Mr Kennedy tours the nation telling his story to African Americans.
1
scottsdale is the county's second whitest city (must be by design). Most of AZ is white, white, white. Many, if not most folks who live are from somewhere else so the manager's reason is not valid.
This is simply embarrassing and shameful. Racism is all about ignorance and unwarranted fear.
5
this sent chills down my spine, as a black woman in corporate america. so tired of the look my non-black peers give me when i suggest that perhaps things are more difficult for me in the workplace because of the color of my skin.
do you believe us now?
17
Morgan initially was widely commended for leading Wall Street out of the 1907 financial crisis; however, in the ensuing years the portly banker with the handlebar mustache and gruff manner faced increasing criticism from muckraking journalists, progressive politicians and others that he had too much power and could manipulate the financial system for his own gain. In 1912, Morgan was called to testify before a congressional committee chaired by U.S. Representative Arsene Pujo (1861-1939) of Louisiana that was investigating the existence of a “money trust,” a small cabal of elite Wall Street financiers, including Morgan, who allegedly colluded to control American banking and industry. The Pujo Committee hearings helped bring about the creation of the Federal Reserve System in December 1913 and spurred passage of the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914. -History.com
3
For all those who say America's problem is mostly socioeconomic this proves otherwise.
Rich or poor, if your black you get treated differently.
7
@Peter Jenkins True that. Sometimes you get elected President. Twice.
this type of stuff has been happening for the last 40 years, in banking, in large law and accounting firms, in consulting firms. It is time that everyone starts reporting everything. And it is not only black folks, woman are also discriminated against. And Asians were hired but only allowed to work in IT, some how those old white men thought that Asians were smart in computers!
Start an " me too" movement today. It is years overdue.
You will be amazed how much support you will receive.!
4
Disgusting- outrageous & disgusting.
My God; what will happen if the Russian pawn is re-elected? Every weakness bias violation lie right in the face - while we are simply expected to “Get over it!”
Is the great experiment of democracy in a free society that aspires to self- correction despite human imperfection truly facing its demise, drowning in a sewer of rapacious self- importance, corruption, moral decline?
4
Seems that for some, America didn’t need to be great again. It makes me wonder, who in my office, in my neighborhood, is the racist?
2
People like Venniro are not only extremely stupid, they have a sickness in their character as well. No drugs or treatments can help them. People like the spokeswoman Wexler allow the sickness to thrive and spread. I can't say how far up the corporate ladder their behavior extends at JP Morgan but I'm fairly confident that it comes from the bottom and extends as high as upper management. If JP Morgan fails to re-educate and discipline their employees, they are entirely complicit.
5
Historically in the USA, Black Banks get burned to the the ground! We are redlined repeatedly, robbed and left unable to fund our neighborhood economic development with the utmost; in deliberate malice and consumption.
Historical Thievery, Mayhem and Murder are the lay of the land and collateral is in the newest day.
Is New Jersey really racism and hate or backlash from the past?
All for naught!
8
So, targeting a black woman who just won a $400,000 settlement isnt a low life move also? And, was she a section 8 resident or is that what they call black women? And targeting a woman that won a settlement from the pplice. Would that be considered predatory lending? She got some money, you want a piece of it, would that be correct? Mr. Kennedy is a millionaire. If he doesn't like the treatment, take your money and go somewhere else and let them know why.
2
I was waiting for an appointment at a Physical Therapy location in midtown, checked in by a lovely African-American woman at the desk. From the workout area inside a middle-aged white guy comes out and walks to the front desk. The following dialog ensued:
White guy: Is Victoria available?
Receptionist: I'm Victoria.
White guy: You don't look like a Victoria.
Receptionist: I look more like a Ta'Nequa?
I resisted the urge to clap.
13
If you are person of European descent (white) and find this behavior morally, ethically, financially, any word you want to use....wrong.
What are YOU going to DO about it? You're the MAJORITY. Outrage isn't enough. Do something. Take action.
7
Ms Wexler needs to be fired -- immedateily. With no two weeks' notice, no severance pay, nada. Out the Door. No, you don't get to clean out your office. Goodbye.
Of course, this being Phoenix, Arizona, she'll land right back on her feet the next day.
Donald Trump will hire her for any position that requires the employee to consistently lie .... you know, someone like the current White House Press Secretary.
7
“I don’t think any person at that level is dumb enough for it to be that blatant.”
“You stated that Mr. Belton informed you that our firm was prejudiced against you and intimidated by you because of your race...We found no evidence to substantiate your allegations.”
Immoral and bad business, but not surprising considering it’s a bank. Career success at a bank is all about coming from the right school and being in the in-group. Being prejudice for any reason at all comes naturally to these people. Too have a special in-group you need to have many outcasts. In truth, these bankers are insecure losers.
3
There is more to this story then meets the eye, NY Times should look into this as there have been other EEOC complaints for this bank in Arizona.
4
It's clear that racism is not colorblind. It was an outrage for the black banker to request that Mr. Kennedy only speak to him and even the writer of the article spoke of Mr. Kennedy's "Complaining" Wouldn't a better word to use be concerns? And why why why is Mr. Belton still employed by JP Morgan?
1
Nice reporting & good job Peters and Kennedy for recording these surreal conversations. Disgusting.
3
JPM a relic of the dark ages. In this day and age they are in full denial. Typical of low performing organizations living off the old boy white network.
4
Nobody questions all these covert recordings? Shouldn’t the reporter have addressed whether one party recording is legal and therefore admissible as evidence? The NYTimes keeps leaving out details like this in more and more stories. Why?
1
One party recording is legal in Arizona.
4
Indeed, folks thought racism died when Obama got elected. They were sadly mistaken.
4
One of those Uber-riche big league sports heroes, many of whom are African Americans, should club together with fellow sports people of African ethnic heritage, find a person who was in the banking business and start a Big League Sports Hero financial institution.
They might get Oprah to help them get started; she knows her way around finance and business.
4
Yet another example of white privilege, that Fox News will deny exists.
6
"Venniro" -- man, a hundred years ago, someone was doing the same exact thing to your people here in the US. Unbelievable.
7
I think my bigger concern may be the portfolio churning, exorbitant fees and commissions that JP Morgan and similar financial institutions bill to unwitting clients. Compounded over several years, this greatly diminishes clients' assets. Ex-NFL player Kennedy and the woman with the tragic loss may very well now be sharkbait with some other financial institution.
3
The irony is that at least one of their competitors recruits advisors from retiring athletes and puts them through a special boot camp-like training program - goal being that they can create a book of business for the brokerage to share by recruiting their former team mates as clients.
2
Wow, that is nuts. Yeah sure, there is a good chance that someone (of any race) who hasn't had money before, and then suddenly gets a large payout, will blow it all. But to conclude that you shouldn't even try to get them to invest it instead of blowing it, is insane. What's the risk to the bank for trying? Very little, or nothing.
The way Kennedy was treated as a client is particularly crazy. Here's a guy who earned his money, and they still don't want to help him just because he's black?
Unbelievable!
723
@BG
I don't get it. Green is the only color banks should care about.
61
@BG
No, this is not "nuts" nor "unbelievable," it is racist, pure and simple, and it (treating people of color or poor people with such disregard) is deeply entrenched and rampant in our society, across industries, institutions, businesses, public and private, it is happening almost everywhere, every day, blatantly and subtly. Black people, scared for their economic survival, make excuses for white supremacists such as Mr. Venniro, and that is sick and sad. I hope those who have money invested with JPMorgan think again about what sort of institutions they are enriching. Consider a credit union.
92
@BG
Right - the woman came to the bank for help, so her intention to do the wise thing for herself with that money was certainly there. A good bank employee/financial adviser would make a real effort to help her use it to get herself on firmer footing, help her understand how she could work with a large sum of money, and educate her about how to both save and spend wisely.
94
Anyone who has worked for a big organization and gone to diversity training knows that people have biases. One game is to try and match mug shot style face pics with bios, ranging from career incarcerated criminal to senior executive. Participants invariably fail miserably because they are driven by their biases.
Unfortunately those biases can be very hard to keep in check, which is in summary what this article is all about.
2
I'm as white as the day is long, but I've dealt with at least this much incompetence from banks, cable companies, and other large but often irrational organizations to which I've tried to give money in exchange for goods and services that they ostensibly like to sell.
I can see the temptation to think that racism is the only possible explanation for the events described in this article, but the far more likely culprits are ineptitude and bureaucracy.
4
How about you believe black people when they share their experiences of racism? Especially when there is audio evidence.
6
If walks like a duck... and cuack like a duck? Voila!!! It is a duck!!!!
4
@Referencegirl The audio "evidence" here is a black employee telling a black customer that he assumes that racism is behind the customer's bad experience. If I record myself accusing daffy duck of assassinating JFK, does that make it true? No. What if I really believe it? Still, no.
The other piece of "evidence" is a trainee financial advisor, who could have been fired for any number of innocent reasons - most new financial advisors don't build a big enough book of business to keep their jobs - who suspects, but also offers no evidence, that it was due to his race. If JP Morgan doesn't want black financial advisors, wouldn't it have been easier for them to simply not promote him into the job...?
I've always thought the story of blacks in American is analogous to two movies: Die Hard and Passenger 57. Both main characters had to fight off and put down terrorists to save America. Bruce Willis' character fought hard, made the right decisions, and saved the day. Wesley Snipes' character fought hard, made the right decisions, had to fight the racism of the system, and it took much much much longer to get there, and probably with an elevated level of stress, but eventually, eventually he saved the day too. That's American in a black and white nut shell (oh, and brown too).
2
When are we going to admit this us happening everywhere across corporate America every day?
8
This is quite typical at Chase. I have sat in conversations where the now CEO of Merchant Services business when he was the GM of a Product based out of Wilmington. He made overt jokes about Chinese people and their accent, calling it Chinglish and how only their community understood it, behind their backs. This leader and his posses would laugh out at their expense.
8
As a Southern while woman, I've know huge Black men all my life and have never been even remotely made to feel ill at ease nor have tiny Black women made me uncomfortable. The more you interact and know people who are not like you, the more you know humans are much the same every where. Of course, my experience has been in Atlanta and Charleston, both of which are much more sophisticated than Phoenix.
5
This is why Black Americans deserve long-term widescale reparations. It is clear that despite Black Americans’ hard work and success, white colleagues at the same or senior level hold them back. Or try to end their careers.
Not simply the federal government cutting a check to every Black family or adult, but across-the-board opportunity services - housing, income assistance, education - until the median or modal income/wealth of Black Americans increases to that of white Americans.
Furthermore, the civil and criminal penalties need to be vastly more punitive: jail time, being barred from working in the field or industry.
Until such drastic corrective measures are taken, this nation will never make true progress and destroy systemic racism.
12
On the conventional banking side--whatever that is any more--the four Cs associated with giving credit were: "character, collateral, capacity" and the fourth as "conditions." Of these only collateral and capacity are in any sense objective criteria. In a former life when I was for some years in charge of a residential mortgage operation in New Jersey, there was some pride among managers in their ability to assess the character of a borrower. Squishy as it might be, there are "tells." But confirmation bias tends to rule, especially if you don't live and work in a diverse community, not just racially but with respect to income as well. Living in a majority black city with a fairly numerous population of middle class and affluent African Americans, racism is still prevalent tho mostly unconscious. Stereotypes abound for all, from redneck hoosiers and hillbillies to country N-word, to various immigrant populations many former refugees--we have Bosnians and Somalis and Iraquis as well as Mexican and a variety of Latinos including Brazilian expats. WASPs like me think we dance around the attitudes of the merely ignorant. What this case illustrates is how badly financial services needs fresh, minority blood. Can't say I'm hopeful.
3
I worked at JPMC for nearly a decade as a Chase Private Client lender. A few of the ignorant colleagues in my branch drew racial epithets of my family--a crude cartoon which said "Josh's family" with blackface. Many members of my family are biracial and I am white. Although these colleagues were minorities themselves, I found their disrespect to be no less offensive as it was directed toward my family. When I raised the issue to my manager, who happened to be Indian, she discounted and explained away this unprofessional and racist behavior. JPMC had a culture of disrespect and unprofessionalism in my experience. I never took the matter to HR, a fact I regret, because I didn't want to ruffle feathers. And whereas I truly respected a few of my colleagues and leaders, I found their "branch culture" to be raucous, trashy, unprofessional and exceedingly degrading. Chase's retail bank should do more to redress the widespread culture of ignorance and unprofessionalism that seems ubiquitous within their branches. Mr. Kennedy and many other customers and employees like him deserve much better.
15
Can we just elect President Warren already so she can put the fear of God into these banks.?They've already spent a fortune to make sure we don't.
10
Shameful behavior on the part of JPMorgan Chase. Very bad for business and for its clients. And it is not as if JPMorgan Chase is the only bank behaving like this, most of them are. They also discriminate against women of all shades as well.
6
Racism is a constant undercurrent for Blacks and other minorities in every facet of life. In medicine, education, banking, tech, even as simple as something like going to a restaurant can be iffy if you're not cognizant of where you're at and what the primary demographic being served is. We were never anywhere near a post-racial society nor will we ever be. The best we can do is recognize these asymmetries and act accordingly. By that, I mean more Black healthcare workers, more minority ran banks, more Black owned businesses, more Asians in upper executive roles in the corporate world, so on and so forth.
4
The banking industry in the US is hopelessly racist and always has been. African Americans and Latinos can’t get mortgages, or get mortgages for lower amounts on equivalent property values, or pay higher interest rates on those mortgages. They also can’t get home improvement loans. This is especially true in newly gentrified neighborhoods, where they are eventually forced out.
The only way this untenable situation will change is either new legislation with teeth, or even rigorously enforcing previous fair housing bills from the 1960s and 1970s.
9
I love it! The comments reflect such surprise! Gee whiz, we thought racism was a thing of the past. Identity politics is just sooo awful! So many people playing the "race card."
This is America, every day, from coast to coast. But Trump, Pence and his band of moralizing supremacists will find some way to blame this on poor parenting and the tragic decline in family values.
3
I had previously been quite pleased with my interactions with JPMorgan Chase; I have a credit account with them. But, then I read this. I will be looking into transferring all of my funds out of their system, and I will never recommend or use them again. Shame on them! Oh, by the way, I am a White (non-Hispanic) woman, married to a White (non-Hispanic) man. If they discriminate against my sisters and brothers, they discriminate against me.
8
Yes, just like the other lady that had a comment, I’m also white , I also have accounts at JP Morgan Chase and I’m gonna look into moving them now sorry about this sorry I’ve been helping them!
4
Sue JPMorgan Mr. Kennedy.
It's 2019.
Don't let the racists get away with it.
Many law firms must be prepared to take on your case, and do so only for a portion of what is likely to be a massive settlement.
Do it. Please.
The Kushner's of the world, with dads buying their way into Harvard, see no horror in such horrors. The rest of us (other than the 40% wedded to Trump - could race be a factor? hmmm.) do.
You have the means and the basis on which to act. Just do it.
6
So a guy that think he is being discriminated at goes to bank and find an employee that also thinks he is being discriminated at and the employees made some unflattering comments to let the first guy record as proof they are both being discriminated at.
If you are someone that have issues with bank and if you are someone that isn’t royal to your employer maybe that’s why they don’t want you as client and employee. You can quota and legislate your way to be hired/promoted/served but bad employees/clients are bad employees/clients and will always be looked upon sideway.
A person of color who feels they are a victim of racism can find another person of color who feels the same way simply by reaching out to the closest person of color. You know why? All people of color experience racism in the United States. Why should they be loyal when the whole country treats them like second class citizens?
5
Thanks to NYT for publishing this article and a real piece of journalism. What would be interesting if NYT could publish the follow up on actions J P Morgan takes. Please NYT, continue such journalism. Lots of good, fair and honest Americans rely on you.
6
Should anyone reading this article be surprised or even shocked about this behavior in certain parts of the US.
3
PLEASE. If you are white, and not a racist, ask for a black banker.
I have been offered many wealth managers. Every single one was white, and I said no. Most were 25-35, and a business major at a second rate university. I could get the same advice from my Shih-Tzu.
So far I am left managing my own money.
3
This article perfectly outlines how institutional racism works. Racism is alive and well in the USA.
3
Textbook discrimination. Seen it, felt it, dealt with it, been repressed by it.
And, to all you white people out there reading this, you're not going to believe it exists until it happens to you, and I honestly hope it happens sooner rather than later, as soon as possible.
And, then, when it does happen, you're going to delay action and not believe it and be misled constantly searching for reasons until there are no other reasons.
But by then it'll be too late.
This gives the people doing the discrimination the breathing room to get their stories straight and coordinated and to develop the necessary justification coverup paperwork.
And, I never believed it either, being the target of discrimination covered by coordinated excuses.
I didn't believe it.
Then I became thru no fault of my own a disabled veteran.
Discrimination against a veteran? It's an everyday thing in your America.
Discrimination is predicated on finding flaws in as many of the five character traits as possible;
Openness
Conscientiousness (are you dependable?)
Extraversion (are outgoing?)
Agreeableness (are you friendly?)
Neuroticism (are you sane?)
And, that's childs play for JPMorgan and government or business with half a clue. It's simple. Just lie, baby, lie. It's simple. Lie.
Go ahead. Thank me for my service.
Please.
Because you know you forgot to.
And yes, I am insinuating exactly that to you and everyone who reads this.
6
JPMorgan is not only guilty of racism, but sexism. The only way to bring accountability to this business is to take your money and put it elsewhere. Customers who stay with them are aiding and abetting.
4
There is a film called The Banker, about a black man who got so frustrated with the racism of banks that he decided to open his own bank! The film is not out yet, but I saw the trailer..
We need more exposure of these outrageous activities. I'm glad tapes and recordings exist and keep coming out....
7
I don't see this appalling story as representative of anything other than the long and sordid history of discrimination at JP Morgan (not Chase). As recently as the 1970's a Jew could not get a job at this bank - even at entry level administrative assistant positions. Call it the heritage of JP Morgan himself, the sad fact is that as decent and extremely capable an executive as Jamie Dimon is, he hasn't done a thing in this regard. Jews, African-Americans, you name it. What's the real shame here is that there's no excuse for this. Dimon - who is usually on top of every kind of operational detail at the bank, has done zilch about it - and he could have remedied it years ago.
4
I'm a middle-aged white guy who is a Chase Private Client with assets totalling 1.5% of Kennedy's. What more needs to be said about that?
4
Its not just banks, any tech company, any other industry has invisible racism.
It's no surprise that Mr. Kennedy encountered discrimination at JP Morgan, especially in Arizona.
The data on the treatment of African American borrowers by America's mortgage lenders have consistently revealed that even the wealthiest of Black households are denied mortgages at a much higher rate than the poorest of white households. I've conducted around a dozen analyses of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data as part of Analyses of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice -- and the findings for every municipality and county we've studied reveal consistent racial discrimination.
That Mr. Kennedy would face such blatant discrimination in Arizona is no surprise. Racial bigotry is extremely prevelent in Arizona, especially amongst the political conservatives that have pretty much destroyed the state government.
5
Institutional racism is everywhere in United States it has just morphed to stay ahead of the law.
I spent a decade in US Defense Industry and have encountered every form of excuse from my superior for denying promotion giving excuse like "sometimes we don't promote good people to management so they can maintain standard at Engineering level" and on other occasion when I was laid off "sometimes we have let good people go" (!?).
You need severance package and as a part of deal you don't sue. So it is backed by strong armed practices.
311
@Alpha funny, I've been let go in the same fashion and I'm white. Is that racism too? Racism seems to be in the eye of the beholder these days...no evidence needed. Confirmation bias abounds.
3
@John There will always be apologists for implied racism. Your eyes apparently are closed in the it happened to me to so it can't be racism.
Obviously you've overlooked the audio recordings and the $24M class action settlement--an institution the size and resources available by the financial deep pockets of JP Morgan doesn't roll over and settle a large class action if they believe they can prevail.
19
@John This is a comment section not essay writing section. The two that I mentioned above is a small sample.
Giving you the benefit of the doubt, you may be right, but then I was unable to take it to the court because of the conditions on severance package and the repercussion I would have faced in the industry.
11
This article highlights how racist people often use the excuse of “how OTHER people might react”, when in fact it is all about themselves.
The racist behaviour at JPMChase was also a bad business decision and counterproductive. The bank managers likely underestimated their clients. I bet a lot of their white clients would be ecstatic at the opportunity of meeting a former NFL player at a private bank event and talk about the NFL and the Super Bowl.
Based on this investigation and prior litigation, racism appears to be part of the culture at JPMChase. The bank has a long way to go to improve since they do not even acknowledge reality. I hope affluent African Americans take their business elsewhere.
448
@Tony S
"I hope affluent African Americans take their business elsewhere."
I hope that everybody else takes their business elsewhere too. Why should African Americans be the only ones who care about injustice? We all need to question who our dollars are helping and who they are hurting.
Don't forget to tell them why you left
96
@Tony S
“I hope affluent African Americans take their business elsewhere.”
Actually I kept thinking about this and realized I shouldn’t expect African Americans to do all the work against racism. If allies from other races remain passive, things will never change.
JPMChase evidently doesn’t care about African Americans as employees or as (even wealthy) clients. Well, they don’t deserve my business either. I’m not African American but I’m taking my business elsewhere. I no longer want to be associated with JPMChase. This type of racist behaviour and corporate denial is disgusting. The only language banks understand is money. Well, they lost my money. Bye, Chase.
82
@Tony S I hope affluent people period full-stop take their business elsewhere. Common decency mandates it.
53
I think sometimes that Amazon and other online marketers will become the only game in town and that retail establishments will no longer be available to the poor. The "unbanked", those without a credit or debit card will not be able to buy stuff online. If retail retracts then the costs to buy in person will likely increase. Online shopping has the potential to be very discriminatory.
Please don't take this as anti-Semitic or throwing blame at a religious group but consider this as a complement and something other minorities can learn.
The banking top echelon is disproportionately held by people of Jewish faith. It is very commendable, AND this rise occurred despite the persecution and Holocaust, no other people of faith has seen this degree of persecution.
My advice is other minorities can learn a lot from the exemplary accomplishment of this minority.
(PS: I have a feeling this will be taken as a wrong way.)
I am of German decent - white pink whatever you want to call if. I’m taking this the wrong way bc this same logic comes up in the discussions about the admissions into specialized schools in NYC .
“ oh the Asians are poor and they get in” or like you said the Jews had the holocaust -
African Americans were brought here like cargo - if they survived and it’s been hundreds and hundreds of years being property and brutalized.
I’m offended. Don’t even go there.
1
@Lulu You misunderstood what I said. I just pointed out that in face of calamity there are examples of excellent success that must give all hope. Martin Luther King is another example, though still ways to go.
I am asking others to persevere in face of persecution, racism, despair, calamity ....
Good article, but this is just one element in a larger set of problems in this industry. In addition to racism, and not to minimize the extent of the problems highlighted here, the article suggests two additional problems. First, the behavior of middle managers whose incentives are selfishly aligned with individual bonuses tied to goals that show little regard for subordinates or colleagues. Such disrespect for employees is an insidious corporate culture implicitly promoted by top management. Second, the interplay between different uncoordinated parts of the organization which create management rivalries at the expense of most employees. Employees who somehow don''t fit the alpha male aggressive personality wind up being disposable.
Beyond those two problems, there is the high rate of acknowledged misconduct among financial advisors according to a study by Mark Egan at Harvard. That study also noted that when advisors were fired for misconduct, 30% of them simply found work at another firm. And that is on top of the issue of fiduciary responsibility to the client, which financial advisors are not bound by. The majority of these financial advisors are also certified financial planners.
When racial discrimination is added to the list, this low end "wealth management" business (these are not the truly rich clients who have well over $100 million) is ripe for recurring scandals like this one in the future.
1
I have encountered search engine racism as well. In looking up people’s names in order to update a corporate database, I find that what comes up first for Latinx names is a firm that will provide arrest records. This does not happen for “white” surnames like my own.
175
@GreatKin Google searches tend to be biased. Try duck duckgo.com or ixquick.com for unbiased (and untracked) searches.
13
@GreatKin
I am white and have never been arrested. I was able to look up my supposed arrest record. My name is European
4
@GreatKin That's based only on the history of previous searches. There is no part of the algorithm that judges the name's ethnicity. This is a great example of conformation bias.
4
To everyone participating in this forum - the Times, reporters, staff, the people interviewed, those who acted and those who witnessed, those who speak out - thank you for the reminder that all these actions are possible in this country, and that we are willing to begin to fix what has been broken even when in some cases we ourselves have done the breaking.
4
I was a branch manager for a large bank in Coconut Grove in Miami in the 90s. Cue the CRA. "The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) is a federal law enacted in 1977 to encourage depository institutions to meet the credit needs of low-and moderate-income neighborhoods. The CRA requires federal regulators to assess how well each bank fulfills its obligations to these communities."
Word came down that we had to ramp up efforts to meet goals that would appease federal regulators. My branch, like so many areas in Miami, had a mix of affluent clients and low-and-moderate-income clients.
I'm proud to say that I interacted with all sects with equal enthusiasm to help them meet their goals. My branch was, in fact, the only one out of 12 in my region that had funded business loans to minorities. It carried the entire region in fulfilling its obligations to the community.
What I do remember is that each such loan I approved was subjected to extra scrutiny by the department that audited loans, even though approving and funding those loans was within my authority. I might add that I never had a single one of those loans go bad because I used the same underwriting procedures I would use for any customer seeking a business loan. Black, brown, white, male or female (also considered a "minority" in loan-worthiness) if you met the criteria, you got the loan. But I was well aware that other branch managers didn't want to take a chance on, ahem, "potential bad loans" in their portfolio.
8
the article says that Mr. Kennedy tried, in vain, to become a " private client" of Chase and that he was rejected because of his race. His statement should be very easy to prove. One becomes automatically a " private client" at Chase if he has a certain amount of money in that bank ( I believe it is $ 250.000). Again, you don't " try " to become a "private client"; you become one automatically under certain conditions. Did Mr. Kennedy meet those conditions? If he did, then he has a point. The reporter should have asked him that question.
7
It is sure good to see how well the big boys have been running the largest economy in the world. I remember the good old days when the state of Texas considered me and all other married women as chattel, no accident that it rhymes with "cattle". At the same time, the banks and financial institutions did not consider married or divorced women as people who had financial histories. If you were single and married, they gave your financial history to your husband when you married and he kept it, even if you divorced him for being a spendthrift. Divorced women had no trust whatsoever. And we were just a tiny step ahead of minority men.
Isn't it about time to put many more women in positions of power and demote the men who have done more to cause financial inequity that the rest of us could imagine. Now, in Austin, the real estate and banking folks want to blame at least half of Austin's financial equity on the women who have become teachers and nurses and other professionals over the past 50 years. The men take no responsiblity for the inequality. What is wrong with this picture? !
5
I had the worst experience with Chase trying to refinance my mortgage during the recession. Mind you we paid our mortgage on time every month and had excellent credit but we did live in a predominantly non-white neighborhood. Chase was awful. All they did was string my family along and had us pay 500 dollars in app fee twice telling us we were "pre-approved." Once charged to me and once to my unsuspecting elderly parents and this was years after the recession was over. And then they pretty much ghosted us. It still angers me today because I know they knew exactly what they were doing and believe they had no qualms about conning us. I vowed I would never do business with them if I can help it. When I saw the headline here, I thought, it's about time, the truth comes out about them.
6
At least Mr. Kennedy got lucky in that he never ended up joining the JP Morgan Chase Private Client program, the biggest ripoff in the banking world. He's much better off financially investing his money in index funds at Schwab or Fidelity or Ameritrade. It's not like these investment bankers know what they're doing.
8
The racism in banking is bad, but pales to the systemic racism in healthcare, at all levels. The racism in healthcare is one of the most pressing issues today, and a single-payer system would help alleviate a great deal of the racism in healthcare.
5
Even without all the racism issues brilliantly catalogued here, there are rampant discrimination, abuse and predatory practices in existence with every major commercial bank.
The best thing you can do as a consumer is to close your accounts and bring your hard earned funds to a local credit union. These organizations are non-profit and they exist for the benefit of the community.
But it's hard for people to change. Even after the Wells Fargo fiasco a couple of years ago, people continue to bank with them because it's "convenient".
9
we've got our mortgage with a local bank thinking the mortgage would stay local and it was immediately sold twice and ended up at Wells Fargo within the month. I was so upset because I did not want my money to be with them. People don't even have control over where their own money goes or is owed.
4
@Kim Newton
When we got mortgage from our local CU, there was a clear clause in there that states: "We will never sell your loan. We will service it for its life."
4
And in 2013 the Supreme Court overturned on a 5-4 decision a substantive part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Those five justices argued that racial minorities no longer faced discrimination in the good old U.S of A.
14
I am not surprised to read this article. Many years ago I had watched a tv program in which they took hidden cameras to various companies. There was one incident in which a minority couple tried to get a mortgage and was given the runaround. I know this practice goes on every day.
I work in a bank in one of the back office facilities and hear of these out and out racist and discriminatory policies and practices all the time.
I am glad the conversation was recorded- it’s the only way companies will change when they are exposed. I hope more come to light.
15
I didn’t find the first hand evidence very convincing. While I don’t doubt that racism is an issue here, the evidence is mainly second hand.
2
And with that answer, that’s how problems like this continue to happen.
18
@Rhporter So...this was recorded and still you doubt it? That says more you than the story.
4
Thanks, @NYTimes. Do this type of column again and again, until everyone “gets it.”
Black Americans, especially, are discriminated against in small, every-day interactions.
We all need to examine our self-justifications for doing so, and eliminate them. We need to start treating all people as people, entitled not only to good service from us, but also entitled to the same advantages we would seek for our children, should we be white.
7
Irony of the day award: the Grand Lake Theater marquee says: J.P. Morgan presents Just Mercy.
They got the PR division working.
11
My elderly, white father was assigned a private banker at Chase when his accounts reached $200 thousand. He had no plans to do anything but let the meager interest add up. The money's only there for emergencies and there are no plans to invest it.
8
JP Morgan announced a reorganization of its wealth management businesses, bringing all advisors under one tent, something their competitors did over a decade ago. The advisors in this story worked in the branch management organization, not in the national organization for very affluent over 10 million net worth. These advisors did not seem too concerned about corporate with behaviors that, besides ethically wrong, did not make much sense from a corporate profit directive. I wonder if the announcement was coincidental.
3
Here's what happen because I use to for Chase. Let's say you work in the Northwest Division. There are 50 banks in the area but 3 are assigned "Private Client" branches. Each branch has a number of AUM" or Assets Under Management. Let's says the bank he was at at 5 million AUM. If he goes private client, that individual Chase loses AUM. The current Financial Adviser wouldn't want him to go "Private Client" because that individual bank and Financial Advisor would lose that money. I'm black and wouldn't say it was a race thing but he it's not simple transfer to Private Client but you have to go to a Private Client Branch. He got robbed and wasn't told the right information. The Financial Advisor tried to relate to him on a race issue and took it too far.
11
@Michael Really??!!
So many “old thinkers” still exist in middle mgmt. 40-50 years ago, people of color with serious money were rare. Now, it’s quite common that minority members can have considerable wealth. So a bank who judges people by their skin color a poor business decision. But the fact this occurred in Arizona is not surprising.
7
This story illustrates the difference between class and caste. Limited, though it is, the possibility of upward mobility exists for most people in America, whether native born or immigrant, citizen or foreign national.
But no amount of intelligence, hard work, objective excellence, or in this case, money in the bank, can prevent descendants of slaves from being treated as second-class citizens.
16
@nero Not to take away anything from your comment, but this is the experience of anyone who is not white. That includes descendants of slaves, and anyone else whose skin color is not white nor do their names sound white.
4
@Indisk Why do people always try to change the subject when there’s talk of native black oppression?
This article isn’t about skin color in the abstract. It’s about a very specific group that has been targeted with legal persecution&brutality for 400 years.
In fact reams of data on discrimination in employment, education, housing, housing segregation, and economic upward mobility prove that you’re dead wrong. And that stands to reason: If immigrant groups were treated that way as a group, they’d simply stop coming. Or if they were already here, they would leave en masse.
2
I think I'm starting to get it now:
THIS is what the conversation about reparations for slavery is all about. African American citizens have suffered longstanding financial harm due to institutionalized racism. This isn't something that happened in the past and we can put behind us. As this disturbing article makes abundantly clear, racism is real, present, and dangerous today.
54
@IanC Yes, it is and it continues. But don't forget the past either. Since we're talking banking here, think of the concept of compounding interest. Money that was wrongfully denied at an earlier time didn't generate that compounding interest. Perhaps the implications of that makes it too overwhelming for folks but it does illustrate why reparations or affirmative action or other corrective and/or restitution measures are in order. Personally, I always thought affirmative action was a good start and possibly even a good ultimate compromise to stop the continued disadvantage but, nope, people wouldn't even agree to that and it was voted away here in California and struck down by the Supreme Court everywhere. This is a deeply frustrating subject.
5
I had a terrible experience with Chase and would never, ever deal with that bank again. (I’m not black, btw.) Had a mortgage with Chase. Several years ago, out of the blue, they offered me a lower interest rate with no closing costs “because I was such a good customer.” Of course, I took it - who wouldn’t? - but then later during housing underwater bad times (remember those days?) when I asked for a loan modification (as per federal program) they said no because I already HAD a modification under that program. Which was news to me since they hadn’t identified it as such, either in person or on my paperwork. That program was supposed to be for people who were behind or in danger of being behind, which I had not been when they offered me the “good customer” rate. So, not only couldn’t I get a loan modification with them, they used my original “modification” to jack up their “good boy” numbers to the feds and placed me on a national list where no bank could offer me the federal modification. It was a tough couple of years, no thanks to Chase, but I’m with a local bank now, and out of the woods. All I can stay is: stay away from Chase.
15
Mr. Peters and Mr. Kennedy showed great courage and insight to record these conversations. Giving us an example of middle level managers, people who do not set policy, working with deliberate intent to financially marginalize and undermine people of color.
12
You need about $10 million net worth to be a client of private banking at most large banks like JPMorganChase. Think rock stars and old money.
Too bad the Strohs family wasn't a client. They might have gotten better financial advice. The book 'Beer Money' paints a sad picture of that lost fortune.
People may forget whsat you said, but they never forget how you made them feel. This bank made Mr. Kennedy feel inferior, and either they did not care or they were completely callous. The people involved should be fired, the spokeswoman should stop prevaricating, and the bank fined severely. It's no accident that this happened at the bank. Racism is tolerated ang even justified as moral superiority. The spokeswoman is saying what she's saying to avoid grounds for a big fine. She is ethically challenged. The bank is ethically challenged.Something serious needs to be done.
17
@John Mack I completely agree that something should be done against JPMorgan but more than just a big fine. It's fantastic that this horrific story at JPMorgan came to light but so sad if nothing is done about it after we've all written our comments and voiced our outrage. Tomorrow will be a new day and this story will be buried underneath tomorrow's headlines. Don't let that happen. JPMorgan needs to be held accountable for this outrageous behavior.
6
Retired to GA from VA wanted to buy a house. Had just sold my house in VA, netted $150k in cash, retired fed employee with 4 add'l pensions from prev. employers, 0 debt, credit score 800+, past full retirement age with soc security but doing well enough to delay taking it. I decided to get a conventional mortgage, 25% down and invest the rest of my money. Without asking they told me I couldn't borrow the deposit or down payment. I didn't need to borrow it. They also said I couldn't get a mortgage without a job. I had more than enough in my 401k to pay cash for two homes, plus the pensions, and cash.
To approve the mortgage they insisted I withdraw 2 years worth of "living expenses" from my 401k just in case to be deposited with a local broker. The broker didn't want to bother coming into his office to meet, asking to meet at Starbucks. I persuaded them to let me roll the money into a local IRA rather than withdraw since I knew I didn't need it to live on. After we closed I rolled it back to my original 401k. Two yrs. later still haven't touched it.
I've been asked if I actually understood what owning a home means. I've owned 6. I indicated I couldn't read something from a distance; I meant I needed my glasses. They told me to get someone to "assist" or explain it to me. I thought it was amusing, I told them I can read, I have a degree. Needless to say I'm not doing business with them anymore.
Their loss.
64
I live in GA. so I know. But all I can say about your case is: WOW!!
6
Interesting (to say the least). Several years ago I got an AARP-branded Chase VISA credit card. Although that's my only business with JP Morgan Chase, and a very minor one at that, l'll have to cancel that card and get a different one. I wonder what AARP is now thinking about its JP Morgan Chase relationship.
18
Banks also continue to engage in “redlining,” refusing to issue mortgages for property in “high crime” areas despite the credit-worthiness of the applicants.
11
I once had a car loan with Chase as a person of color (that is obviously pertinent as this article makes painfully clear). When they were touting 0% no down-payment loans everywhere, I somehow got stuck with a loan at 4%! And before you even ask, my credit score is over 800. The only reason I went with the loan in the first place was because they gave $500 back just for taking it -- and I thought I was getting it at 0% -- so I figured that was free money. Anyhow, as soon as the $500 check came in a few weeks later, I paid off the loan in full. There was an Asian-American employee who kind of lamented that I was paying off the whole thing at once (since they won't get their interest), and even noted how I and my parents had been JPMorgan Chase customers for decades. I didn't say anything at the time, but all I could think of was how I was given such a high rate because of what I look like, not based on my income, wealth, or long-term business with the institution. I never went back to them, and never will.
32
And who really believes that the insiders of any organization, whether it's banking, police or otherwise is truly capable of policing itself? That's why industries require outside independent professional monitoring by their peers so that they can be properly held to answer.
17
This is terribly sad to read in 2019 or any year in any place. I’m just so astonished to read the JP Morgan spokeswoman, Patrica Wexler, rationalizing and denying her company’s treatment of Mr Peters and Mr Kennedy. Mr Kennedy’s recordings are real. The letter he ultimately received from Morgan is completely surreal and unacceptable.
17
From the President of the United States down to every level, this is the regression we are living in now. Whether black, gay, transgender, Muslim, Latinx, what have you, the floodgates have opened these past three years and everyone now believes it’s “ok” to discriminate: that’s just being real to themselves. It won’t be long that religious freedom will claim the right to discriminate against more than gays because their bible tells them so.
18
As a boy in south MS in the 50s and 60s, we were told that it was right to discriminate against blacks because the Bible said they bore “the mark of Cain”
I am not making this up.
3
Finally! I work in the banking world and it is FULL of racism and sexism. So happy someone is coming forward.
26
If you look up plausible deniability in the dictionary, you’ll find that last quote from JP Morgan. Shameful.
5
Recording people you are trying to serve at a bank? Are you serious?
@Brooklyn No one recorded customers.
2
The bank seems to have been more concerned about the recordings than they were about the racism.
19
Nobody “respects” money more than a poor person. Now that he’s losing his job he might get to understand that.
6
This story is soo crazy to me. I been a Chase Private Client Customer since 2012. I had no problem with Chase. They are always helpful and I enjoy my free tickets to the Museum of Natural History and I been to enough plays, discounts to Disney and also to sporting events. I never went thru any type of discrimination here in New York with Chase. It’s sad in 2019 Large companies do not do more vetting of who they are employing. When People bring their personal racism to work this is not good. If you want to be a racist keep it at your own home and on your own time. Do not use your position on a job to be racist to others. I hope Chase takes a serious look at this and weed out the bad characters working for JP Morgan. I pray one day we can live in an America that we respect each other and just end racism. I hope we can end this here in America.
7
@Stephanie Devins
If they haven't already, Chase needs to clearly communicate to their employees that this kind of behavior is unacceptable. It has to come from the top in order to become part of the company culture.
5
@Stephanie Devins Those free tickets are not free - you are paying them with the horrible transaction fees you have to pay when purchasing stocks or other securities, or by paying a percentage of your wealth to your private banker.
2
Disgusting, of course, and also surprising. Why wouldn't JPM want a high profile, high net worth client that would add to the diversity of their customer base? I guess it shows the difficulty of propagating an official culture of inclusion out to the sticks. It's also kind of funny that Mr. Kennedy so assiduously courted "Private Client" status. That is a label for the "merely affluent" customers and the privileges are largely cosmetic. JPM's "Private Bank" clients are the people with serious money who get the real pampering. I don't know where the cutoff is, but it's way north of $10mm.
3
@Art you have to start somewhere and climb up. Mr. Kennedy qualified for "Private Client" status so why knock him for wanting it?
1
Wow. We are on the cusp of 2020, and it might as well be 1960.
I cannot imagine how livid people of colour must feel at hearing these tapes, how beat down.
As a white North American woman, I am deeply disturbed - actually disgusted and outraged - that the wheels of civilization are still stuck in the same mud.
19
I can certainly relate. I have been trying to secure a refinancing of a mortgage and despite High credit score, High 6 figure income, An established business for 20+ years, 6 figures liquid assets and enough equity in my house to exceed the refinanced amount.
The amount of paperwork and stupid requests coming from an "underwriter" that is never identified. I am still waiting for an answer. Best part, they all blame Obama and the financial regulators for their requests. I have seen people with "shady"money sources get an approval in less than 4 weeks.
I guess, banks are not ready to see empowered latinos and african americans and that is one of the reasons that situation happens
18
@DrMikki
It's not just banks that are resisting such empowerment. In fact, I think this kind of behavior from banks is just the outward manifestation of a much larger, deeper current of white nationalism that has ties to power brokers like bank directors.
2
Sad and depressing. I always encourage young people of color to pursue excellence and hard work to escape the effects of racism . Examples like this essentially say that no matter how hard you work or how well you perform ( the employee ) or how much money you have ( the client ) racism is often still a factor . This is sometimes the case even when color should not even remotely be in the equation . As someone who still believes in the idea of America I find this article very troubling . As a person of color of means I will ask more questions about and to the institutions where I I invest my money.
9
The first thing we MUST do is call the 800 number of jp morgen and cancel all accounts with them. This is amazing how STUPID they are, let alone racist. Why would anyone want such STUPID people handling their investments?
7
I hope that every athlete with an account at JPMorgan pulls their money and invests with an organization that doesn't view athletes and people of color as being ineligible to receive professional financial management services.
14
The only way to make any progress requires something most people would take issue with doing. Teach African American kids to stop consumer culture. Everyone in American is immersed in consumer culture, but everyone is not impacted by the companies that turn around and discriminate. Integration, for white American business, was nothing more than opening a new market. It was never about shared wealth or opportunity and certainly not about equality.
3
After being born and raised in America, university educated in America and earning my CPA in America, I took my education to my parent's heriditary homeland in the Caribbean. I had enough of America's racism to last me a lifetime. I now live a peaceful and equal existence.
I applaud those white, black and brown people in America that try to bring about change. But for me, I'd rather live in peace than try to change bigoted hearts and minds.
24
Folks, take your money out from the big banks and go to credit unions. They offer better rates and same services. Tying yourself to a brick & mortars bank only hurts you in the end. Contact your state banking authority to see if they can provide you a list or do a search on the site for Credit Union National Association (CUNA) which lists their member institutions to find credit unions serving your area. It's time to put our money in institutions that serve OUR communities, not line fat cats' pockets. They now have virtual credit unions, like internet only banks. They offer mobile deposit, credit cards, mortgages, auto loans, student loans, you name it. You won't be missing much from these fat cat banks.
10
@Lmca For investment access and advice, credit unions aren't going to help. If you want a local brick & mortar checking account sure, but brick & mortar is quickly being replaced by technology. For a more holistic solution (checking + investments), people should seek out discount brokerages (Schwab, Vanguard, Fidelity, etc). Checking accounts are intended for keeping cash to pay bills, not giant amounts. You certainly don't need a local Chase branch calling you "private" and pitching laughably overpriced products you don't even need and that underperform a basic S&P 500 index fund.
11
@Harrison If CUs begin getting large cash inflows from wealthy customers, they will hire investment experts. Currently they don't because there is no need for it. Nothing suggests that large commercial banks have a monopoly on investment talent.
The problem starts because American schools teach nothing about managing personal finances, planing for retirement, etc.
If schools dedicated just 1% of the time spent teaching the endless list of dubious and useless subject, to teach personal finance management - a skill that every American needs and will use for their entire lives - it would go a long away.
It is sad to see Mr. Kennedy, a college graduate, feel that he needs to beg a bank for advice to manage a modest sum of money.
The level of financial illiteracy in our society is alarming. Virtually no one can read/understand/evaluate a simple loan or investment document. They can't make create a simple family budget. Financial advisors are taking advantage of the ignorance of our population.
That is the larger problem.
13
@Baron95 Amen. We are tripping over ourselves to teach computer programming to every student, when only 10-20% will ever use it. We teach financial literacy to 0% of our students, and 100% of them will need it.
10
Schools should certainly teach financial literacy, but, unless the curriculum includes learning to expect discrimination by banks based on one’s race or ethnicity, I don’t understand what that has to do with the reported episodes.
It’s the banks that need the education. Their curriculum should include introduction to “let the master respond”
and punitive damages 101.
3
I think that you may have missed the point. Though financial literacy is a challenge for many, JP Morgan's negative behaviors based on racist ideology created inequities for an investor and ended an employee's career.
Mr. Kennedy wasn't begging for advice, and his desire for assistance isn't the issue. Your tone shifts the responsibility to him, his education and schools, and takes it off the real culprit, institutionalized racism.
I have several degrees and use investment professionals because they are experts on investing and estate planning, just as I go to my doctor who is a healthcare professional with expertise in human anatomy, physiology and disease.
Shall we expect college graduates to know basic medicine so that we can treat themselves when they're ill?
Mr. Kennedy's experience is merely another symptom of America's problem with brown skin. Let's not change the subject.
5
For Wexler to uphold the way Kennedy was treated was abhorrent. They are in breach of fiduciary duty letting that money sit idle. The client should have been called because his manager knew he was in the middle of a transaction!
-Kellie Farrish (one of the 6 named litigants that brought the lawsuit mentioned in the article.)
19
If we want to nitpick about ethics, Ricardo Peters should have directed his "section 8" client to a low cost or fee-only financial advisor right off the bat. The 1% (or whatever) that Chase would have charged her is structured to compensate the bank for a range of private banking services that she would never have needed or accessed.
5
The banks Human Resources department primary function is to protect the bank. All "investigations" are sure to be a sham. You can take that to the Bank.
7
I want to state that this also happens to women with financial firms. We are treated like second class citizens or like we are not smart. It doesn't matter if they have women on the staff.
I have had this problem with Merrill Lynch (Bank of America), they no longer have my money.
I also had this problem with Wells Fargo Mortgage.
12
I have had NO issues, as an older woman and now a widow, with MorganStanley. My financial advisors give careful, thoughtful advice, know my kids’ situation, act in fiduciary capacity, and are always responsive and answer even (my) dumb questions. If you are having trouble w investment banks or brokers, you might consider moving to MS.
This is a meaningful article showing the bad treatment of African Americans in a analytical, sober and realistic manner. I appreciate reading about a very powerful example of life in the United States at the brink of 2020.
12
You are absolutely correct. This is truly just a glimpse into what the life of a black individual can be. You are always seen as “aggressive” or “intimidating” when you show you are passionate and attempt to move up the ladder. For feelings such as these are part of the reason that I moved all of my money from Chase. They will never see a dime from me ever again.
An excellent article.
5
This is also story of industry concentration. JP Morgan Chase doesn't need to care all that much. Arizona has gone from 50 banks to only 15 now. Industry consolidation has been underway for decades and took a big step forward in the Great Recession.
Monopolistic industries squash free markets and do everything they can to thwart them and those industries can do one heck of a lot.
6
@Nancy You have it exactly backwards. Chase and other big banks are watching their core businesses get chipped away by online lenders, roboadvisors, and other upstarts, and I wouldn't call a company with "only" fourteen (!) competitors a monopolist.
1
@HenryParsons In 2018 the top 4 banks in the US, JP Morgan, Wells, BofA and Citi accounted for 40% market share in an economy bigger than $20 TRILLION. I personally think that qualifies as concentration.
6
how many more investigations and settlements will it take to get the banks to work for the communities they are chartered to serve? These settlements, admissions of guilt, and promises to do better seem to solve nothing. The banks give some guilt money to a few community projects, then go on their merry way, complain about over regulation until the next scandal. Perhaps it is time to break up the banks
4
Unbelievable. Glad this is getting recorded and played so people can hear it clear and honesty. Plus, what stupid businesspeople! Never mind just being racist -- why would you turn down anyone who walks into a bank with money?! Ultimately, racism has a cost, not just in human but financial terms as well.
774
@David Law I guess in the end, they hate / fear us more than they live money. Tragic. God Knows none of us are surprised.
37
These people are not business people. They have just risen to a rank within a corporation. I’m sure they know very little about business.
34
@David Law
Sadly, racism is much bigger than "stupid business people!" Susan Faludi documents well how savvy business people systematically lose out from from greater profits through sexism (see Backlash: the Undeclared War Against American Women). Business people are not immune to being blinded by their racism when making financial decisions. Society shouldn't count on business people being rational.
41
I received a severance package from a former job and put it into my investment account at a broker (not the one in this article). The account just (barely) hit the threshold for private client and they - without even asking - moved me (a white woman) to private client status and boom came the perks. I went under the threshold later and they still kept me in the private client group.
Mr. Kennedy has loads above the necessary threshold and they deny him?
Oh, yeah. That's definitely racism.
25
@Barton
You are paying through the nose for "private client status". Someone has to pay for the broker's fancy offices and fancier compensation for higher-ranking employees, and it's you.
Stick with Vanguard funds.
4
In 2018, just 16.1 percent of board seats in the Fortune 500 were held by African American/Blacks, Asian/Pacific Islanders, Hispanic/Latinos, and Others. Jamie Dimon and his board of directors at JPMC is the part of the problem, not the solution.
6
If you look hard enough, you will find a rotten apple in every barrel. It shouldn't tar the entire apple industry, which seems to be the purpose of articles like this one, and to perpetuate a sense of grievance.
People aren't perfect. Accept that. Most are trying to improve.
6
@Jonathan Katz What you're really saying here is this: "When people act in a way that is motivated by racial prejudice, we should ignore it and assume they're trying to improve. And people who are the target of this behavior should just shut up and take it in the interest of avoiding fostering a 'sense of grievance.' "
Sorry -- not good enough. This has gone on for too long, and people and institutions like those described in this article won't change until they are shamed into changing. Period.
9
Mr. Katz, I wonder if you would feel the same about "a few bad apples" if the article revealed a higher interest rate, or poor services for those people with "semetic sounding names". The point is; Discrimination in our nation's banking system cannot be tolerated...
3
@Jonathan Katz : Ah, we always have to have your comments about how "it's not as bad as they make it out to be," and that it's all a secret ploy to perpetuate "a sense of grievance".
All you do is prove it proves is the point of the article: people of your ilk will NEVER believe it is as BAD AS IT HAPPENS.
So, save yourself the time of reading and commenting on these articles, since you're predisposed to not believe any of the objective evidence shown.
1
I used to be completely oblivious to my white privilege. I never had to worry about being harassed or shot by a police officer, being cheated out of decent schools, and economic opportunities at every turn.
But in the last few years, as more and more information comes to light about the horrifying injustice endured by black and brown people, I have seen our country with new eyes and it sickens me.
28
Blacks are not alone in facing mindless prejudice. A long-haired anglo male, I have had to show an ID to make a deposit to my own bank account. Bigots are bigots wherever encountered.
5
Not exactly the same. Think about it.
1
I too am a Private Client despite only keeping a small amount in that account. My private wealth advisor, who happens to be black while working in a wealthy township, calls me every quarter to try and drum up business. I always ignore him, but, after reading this article, I am sending some business his way. The only thing the bosses notice is monetary results; time for me to support my guy.
6
@Amy
No, it's time for you to support yourself, not the financial advice industry. You can get better advice for free by moving all your money to a Vanguard index fund.
2
I'm young black professional. It's sad but a little reassuring to know that I am not the only one who goes through this. These situations make you question your sanity, because, contrary to some people's beliefs, we want the system to be fair. We want to know that our efforts dictate our outcomes not the biases of some person in management.
22
Very disappointing. Unfortunately, also very typical.
The law should allow - no, require - punitive damages for this kind of offense. Sickening, and sad.
6
Words fail me.
I am beyond disgusted by this corporate behavior towards a man who should be treated as a valued client and another who should be treated as a valued colleague.
Ugh.
7
So the black lady with 400K wasn't good enough to do business with because the money she had she "didn't earn?" What does that matter? It's another racist excuse when no doubt most of their clients didn't "earn" their money either.
Two words: Credit Union!!!
18
@Bettye
The irony here is that inherited wealth is not "earned", it is an accident of being born to wealthy parents.
Notice that the qualifier doesn't apply when it comes to extremely high net worth individuals.
6
Racism? In America? Shocking.
6
Well the bank investigated itself and found that it couldn't be racist because it has plenty of black friends. Open and shut case. Nothing to see.
16
If you live in AZ, you are not surprised by this, but disgusted for sure.
8
Oh my gawd, does discrimination never end? Stupid weaklings, they are....the ones who are afraid of those "different" from themselves.
Unfathomable!
Are we not all humans of the 46 chromosome variety? Why do you fear your own kind, human?
For how many more centuries will humans continue to hate one another? Why?
4
Tell me that white privilege does not exist.
2
I look forward to this 2,523,563th episode of blatant racism being exposed finally being the episode that makes white people care enough to do something about it.
8
I have been a Chase customer for over 25 years. I will be looking for another bank.
7
@Tom
Chase has been gouging its customers for much longer than 25 years.
We all know about the multitude of fees they charge. But there is more: a relative had some Chase CDs. When they were about to mature she wrote a letter requesting payment at maturity. Somehow, the check never arrived. Weeks went by---these deposits are payable at maturity---only after repeated telephone calls did they send a check. I think that amounts to felony fraud.
4
If meritocracy rules, any society will be great. Unfortunately, human ills like racism, nepotism, corruption pervades, and that is why we have laws enacted by essentially the representatives of the people to protect against the dark side of human nature. And investigative journalism, technology- hurrah! For exposing wrong doings at the highest or deepest levels.
2
I recently had to endure an "unconscious bias" video class at my place of employment. I've never been so insulted by such a thing in my work life. Forget that it was too long, and boring..it was the ridiculous scenarios it presented that all danced around real bias. And instead used dopey instances of what they called bias, but were simply sloppy and apathetic work behaviors. Ignoring a customer not due to a unconscious bias, but because the client service rep was just too lazy to engage.
the only attempt at saying what they meant, "hey! there's a lot of racial profiling going on in the company, but we're only going to hint at it by having a black male narrator. But we're not going to say it out loud."
dumb.
1
Meanwhile Jamie Diamond is giving interviews to 60 minutes about the investments his firm is making in Detroit African American communities. JB Morgan was bailed out my Tax payer money that included African American Tax payers. The biggest mistake President Obama made was not holding these Wall Street Bankers responsible for their actions
14
And where is Mr. Belton now?
...now think of what the non-affluent African-Americans are up against.
17
add to list: banking while black.
12
Cancelling our chase cards
5
I do not believe wrongful death settlements are subject to Federal taxes. You might want to get your facts straight before commenting. As for burning through windfalls, speaking from personal experience?
1
This is the toxic nature of racism today. It is not the cross burning nuts who are easily dismissed by well-intentioned Caucasian Americans as being an “other” unlike them, rather it is the intellectualizing, well-meaning person, who doesn’t recognize the unconscious biases that they harbor in actively closing doors for advancement of ambitious, capable African Americans, who have always been present despite the stereotypes of laziness that abound. This is why the call out culture exists, and why the “annoying” “woke” crowd tirelessly brings up the underlying racial implications of all things. It is because the stubbornness of denial that exists among our well-intentioned Caucasian brothers and sisters, who were socialized to be utterly blind to how racism exists today. The tireless energy of the woke crowd reflects the weariness of always being the at the losing end of the slow awakening of our people (i.e. Americans as a whole). I have had the pleasure of know many Caucasian Americans who woke up in the proceeding decades, and fight admirably for social and economic justice. Our Jewish brothers and sisters deserve mention here, as well as the tireless University affiliated brothers and sister, and those who survived the forced integration of our school systems, leaning empathy instead of resentment. Bravo NYT for continuing to press these issues.
549
@Every Man, No Man None were socialized to be blind to racism. Racism is no more or less than a belief that one race is intrinsically superior to another.
My "socialization" was to be COLORBLIND, which is the opposite of the belief that one race is intrinsically superior to another (and as I am an official "person of color," at least one branch of your intersectional argument can't be used against me).
On the other hand, the "woke crowd" has spent decades trying to change the meaning of "racism."
Racism is not disparate statistical outcomes. Racism is not "bias," implicit, intrinsic, or otherwise. Racism is not opaque preference. Racism is not the fact that one group lags another socially or economically, for a decade or a century or a thousand years.
If it is, then our Asian and Jewish brothers and sisters have somehow got one up on our white brothers and sisters, because they consistently outperform whites in the US. We Arab Christians (a tiny minority) outperform our Muslim brethren by almost 4:1 economically and socially.
IF those things are racism, then the whole world is mired in implacable racism which is so endemic to humanity that we might as well rail that our bodies are programmed by DNA instead of some other more understandable mechanism.
So it is not the rise or clever concealment of racism that is driving the "woke" movement, but the expansion of the word "racism" to encompass intrinsic aspects of every human condition.
9
JPMorgan, Citicorp, Capital One ... etc. Same jerks, different brand.
12
This is not something that happens in branches at Arizona and across the country. I work in finance and tech, in Manhattan, and am white. One mental exercise I routinely perform is to look around offices or holiday parties and look for faces of people of color, especially black ones. They simply aren't there in many cases (especially in tech) and in others (finance) are grossly underrepresented versus the faces one sees walking through the city on a daily basis.
Meanwhile,7 black students are admitted to Stuyvesant High School a year:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/18/nyregion/black-students-nyc-high-schools.html, and communities fight tooth and nail to maintain the status quo based on arguments about "fairness."
We all bear collectively responsibility for the system which exists, and, to work to improve it.
17
I don’t at all like the terms “systemic racism” or “institutional racism”: I feel it lets racists too easily off the hook. Institutions aren’t racist - people are, and those people within institutions making bigoted, racist decisions should be called out for what they are.
10
US banks are hitting rock bottom: you’re left choosing between bad and awful... Wells Fargo, anyone? They do deserve to be smothered and asphyxiated by regulation, fintech, and zero interest rates.
5
Shocking and shameful. I am grateful for the article.
5
Unreal. Too real.
For generations, white people have denied racism, and demanded proof.
In our new all screens - all cameras - all audio technology world, we are seeing the racism. But too many white people continue to deny the undeniable.
9
There is something wrong with this story. It does not ring true.
1
@Michael
Which part does not ring true?
totally agree. fake noos. racism in America?? In Arizona?? please. maga. /s
"It is that they recorded their interactions with bank employees, preserving a record of what white executives otherwise might have dismissed as figments of the aggrieved parties’ imaginations." - this is the key because all too often this is what we are told.
1
How about that, discrimination based on a banker’s judgement and determination that the person requesting the loan can’t pay it back, or is a high risk for payback. Does the term, or more significantly, the accusation, “predatory loan” ring a bell?
The racism is outrageous. I would change my checking account to another bank, but I doubt there is much difference between commercial banks.
My advice to Mr. Peters would be to look for a private financial adviser who will act as a true fiduciary. He isn’t likely to get that from Chase.
2
@Susan Piper You should change your bank because is does make a difference to JPM. Tell them why you're dumping them. It takes action, even the small ones. to hold these people accountable.
It never ceases to amaze me how much harder it is for someone of color to "make it" in this country and once they have "made it" to have their accomplishments diminished by the institutionalized racism and the manufactured sense of superiority of mediocre "White Folks." Yet minorities continue to make it and continues to fight the good fight. I am forever grateful to Mr. Peters for the courage and wisdom to record the interactions as it seems that any accusation of racism is "Fake News" if it is not recorded.
11
Story of our lives. I am sorry that this happened to this gentlemen, however I am not the least shocked or surprised.
6
Listening to the audio 'This Is Not Money She Respects' leaves me feeling utterly repulsed. This is deplorable conduct, deplorable racist, classist, and perhaps also misogynistic ideation. And it is deplorable that such a human is in any kind of position, much less management at a bank. Sadly, though I'm repulsed, I'm not shocked because I believe that our current President and his followers/apologists have encouraged people with such ignorance. Thanks to Mr. Peters for his courage and intelligence in bringing this to light and thanks for publishing, NYT.
12
Financial advisor do not look out for you. They are salespeople. The ones that I have the opportunity to deal with only want to make transactions and commissions. I believe that Mr. Kennedy was discriminated against due to his race. Chase upper management is biased and prejudiced.
4
No surprise. As with policing vis-à-vis Black Lives Matter, it has taken the innovation of affordable, ubiquitous recoding technology to substantiate what some us have known all along: America is racist to the bone. But I am not optimistic mainstream Americans are going to give two figs. The earth is flat, vaccines cause autism, and Trump is the Second Coming.
3
The racism evident here speaks for itself.
But another question everyone should be asking is what is the real value of free non-independent financial advice from large brokerages and banks and are people who seek these "free" services best served with this model?
In my experience as a private services client, brokerage or bank based advisers are primarily sales people who are mostly concerned with the value of their "book" (which determines their income). If the woman's settlement had been larger JPM would have happily worked with her regardless of how she got the money.
But then she'd face the real problem with this type of adviser: they are parasites and the value of their "free" advice is worth what you pay for it. Everyone needs to learn to manage their own finances and the best services most brokerages offer are the free tutorials and market analysis that is available to anyone on their websites.
The financial services industry will eventually end this systemic abuse of their customers as the industry moves to better quality and lower priced services with lower fees, more nuanced robo-advisors and free educational offerings and eliminates the expensive and low value fluff like overpaid "Private Client Services" salespeople, er advisers.
4
Michele your comments are so true
A giant bureaucratic bank unable to get out of its own way and onboard a potentially lucrative client? Happens every day.
Hanlon's Razor rules supreme: Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by incompetence.
1
And David Brooks says that capitalism is essentially benevolent!
5
Hilarious the suggestion that the funds a woman received from a wrongful death settlement were "not money she respects. She didn’t earn it.”
Ever hear of a bank turning down the money of a person who inherited a fortune because it's "not money she respects. She didn’t earn it” ?
Me neither.
Pure racism.
16
CEO Jamie Dimon may have his New York bank headquarters racially 'p.c.,' but it's unclear if he's even remotely aware that his purported 'values' manage to trickle farther down than some private branch located in Tribeca.
What is the real news? A former football player managing his hard earned money? A woman caring about her financial wellbeing? A mid level manager in Arizona, that is a racist? A black bank employee that cannot advance his career?
A bank spokeswoman trying to hide dirt under the rug?
That is the America we all share.
13
Tell us again, Chief Justice Roberts, how gutting the Voting Rights Act is ok, because the US has fixed it’s racism problem, and any remaining racism is “ordinary “. Systemic racism is still the accepted order and it’s sickening.
14
Moving from the Midwest, and landing in the 2nd wealthiest area in Arizona, I must confess: I put a calendar on the fridge to notate every time I saw an African American in public here.
Sometimes, I'd have maybe 1 or 2 marks a week. African American culture is not big in the Mountain West/Southwest. There are simply no African Americans out there.
Where I live, only Arizona Cardinal football players have houses that are black. That's it. No one else.
Another thing, as a Private Client, it just requires a 250k deposit. Hardly elite.
2
Even as a financially secure white male, I never have, nor ever will, invest with JPMorgan.
3
I have been fighting Chase for 5 years about their handling of a contested charge. They have ignored my pleading with them to look into my claims that they have the information to show how they poorly handled my account. They won't go there and claim I'm the problem just like Mr Peters. Their upper Management/ Executive branch people are inept , ignorant and now you may clearly add racist to that.
2
It’s shocking that a story about racism in the banking industry didn’t include a little basic history. Redlining was a banking practice written into the bylaws of most American banks for much of the 20th century. Systematically denying mortgages to blacks except in “redlined” areas of most major cities, it created crowded, overpriced, monocultural slums where landlords had power over people with no other living options.
More importantly, redlining denied multiple generations of African-Americans home ownership, which one of the very few ways that middle class people can pass down intergenerational wealth. Redlining is one of the primary reasons for the current wealth gap between blacks and whites. Redlining was cultural vandalism.
With this undeniable history, JPM and other banks should NEVER receive the benefit of the doubt where race disputes are concerned. If for no other reason, reparations are in order for redlining and the generational damage it caused.
9
I’ve been saying this for years:
It seems to me in working toward ending systemic racism and reducing racial disparity, recently the focus has been focussed on identifying and reducing implicit bias.
However, I grew up around some wealthy and moderately powerful people, and based on some of their attitudes towards race, it is my opinion that the amount of explicit bias and discrimination contributing to disparity is severely underestimated
14
When you place a value on anything, including being a private client at JP Morgan, you risk being disappointed should your expectations come short.
Yes, this story wreaks of incompetence and alleged discrimination on the part of decision makers at that chase office in Arizona.
I would bet some others, including minorities and AA’s may have had a different experience than what Mr Kennedy went through.
Discrimination, though systemic as they can be, may not be that systemic after all.
There are way better financial institutions out there than JP Morgan, and being a client there as well as the boasting rights that come with it, may be a fad after all.
After being a Chase customer nearly 5 years, I'm closing my accounts with them. This is appalling.
6
All MONEY matters.
All JOBS matter.
Sheesh. This story angers me to no end.
1
Wells Fargo, move over and make room! Mr. Diamond and his flawed Chase Bank are demanding a seat at your conference table. And it’s time to discuss Christmas bonuses.
2
...and this is our reality: everyday. So we must keep pressing forward...we must keep teaching our children...’cause this is America.
4
Thank goodness that these men had the sense to record these conversations. If not, it would be business as usual: denial and accusing them of playing the “race card.” Bravo gentleman.
8
Banking is fine for checking accounts.Anyone with any wealth to manage should not be going to any bank. Go find Vanguard, Fidelity And invest with them.
3
In 1993 Chase denied my mom a mortgage in Bed Stuy because they claimed “ no one has bought or invested in Bed Stuy in 25yrs”. Citibank came thru with the loan. She was able to buy a Brownstone in Bed Stuy for $137 thousand dollars. NYC just appraise the value of her Brownstone at $3mil. Think about that.
8
I'm white and disgusted. I thought this country and its financial services institutions loved money earned through hard work and talent. I can't see a single reason this wealthy client was denied access to program perks that should be automatic. What is wrong with people? If you come into my business with nearly 3X the $$ needed to hit a breakpoint, you're getting the star treatment. Period.
3
Not surprised at all. Read the history and founding of the two banks that became JP Morgan Chase and you will see it's in their DNA
3
Canceling my credit cards with this racist institution. Yes, I know almost all banks are racist, but if people punish JP Morgan chase for this, other institutions will take notice.
4
Even at the very heart of America -it’s capitalist banking system- racism is sop. Your money may be green but what color is your skin? We love to watch you on the field, court, stage, etc., but please, keep your distance in real life.
3
For a long time Arizona has been targeted as a KKK type state. We resisted honoring MLK day. And we were designated a suspect state under the Voting Rights Act. There have been isolated instances. Now this. It is highly misleading.
Arizona is indeed racist. But its animosity is directed toward Hispanics. Their numbers are large. They have influence and power and they are a threat to the status quo. That is way Sheriff Joe was repeatedly reelected.
By contrast the Arizona’s black population is very small. They have little power or influence. And they are barely visible. Friction with them is unusual. The MLK thing was sold as opposition th the Feds jamming things down our throats. Of course there was racism. But it couldn’t be sold that way because antI-Black sentiment is not our thing. The lone cowboy thing carried the day.
While hostility toward Hispanics is off the charts, hostility toward blacks is far less of a thing than in Boston, where I grow up. Busing is up there with the very worst racist conflicts ever. Things are low profile here. Our top sports hero is Charles Barkley. We love him and he loves us. And Barkley does not mince words. If we were racist he would say so.
We are bad, but in the way the article says. Stuff like this distorts the picture. There is a big problem. But it is not the one discussed here.
1
we had our own unrelated set of issues with this bank...I'd never use them...
1
Hear that sound? It’s the deafening silence of JPM Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon.
2
Shouldn't people be moving their money out of JP Morgan?
3
Question for John Wayne: " Mr. Wayne, why do the Indians always lose to the cowboys?"
John Wayne: " When the Indians make the movies the cowboys will lose."
Get used to it. The Jews were also discriminated against but they began to make the movies. Rest is history.
2
@Indian Diner , I remember when I first came to the US over 50 years ago I was routinely mocked because of my accent and my skin color. Then the people from my country of origin began to be very successful bothe in owning and running businesses , especially software , and in the medical fields and the hospitality fields. Much has changed now.
1
Another example of continuous blatant systemic racism in America against Black Americans. Those people who say America is racism free against Black Americans in ALL aspects of American Society (banking, housing, education, law enforcement, jobs, health, etc, etc) are totally ignorant of the facts.
Unfortunately, the ethnicity of the majority of Americans who perpetrate and support racism are WHITE.
Ask any Black American about racial discrimination and they will tell you factually how often they face discrimination whereas the average White American has no clue and will tell you otherwise.
This systemic racism must stop.
1
I can hear the ingrained racism in many of these comments. Really shocking that people aren't smart enough to check themselves and keep their offensive beliefs to themselves.
2
How many commenters on this article will excuse this behavior by saying they are "just playing the race card?" or "why does everything have to be about race?"
1
I’m going to be cynical and sarcastic here, but maybe Mr. Kennedy’s real problem was that he wasn’t rich enough! I would think even racist bankers can set aside their prejudices when they see enough digits after a dollar sign.
Racism is baked into the human brain. It is never going away. The only thing we can do is make laws and regulations in an attempt to keep it to a minimum. Republicans want to deregulate in part to promote racism and maintain white hegemony.
1
Utterly disgraceful. J.P. Morgan should reassess its hiring and screening practices for white managers. I regard this as just another indication that racist, self-endeared white men are the true crisis stratum in the U.S. They need to be taken down a few pegs.
2
Disturbing on so many levels. Important to see. To root out racism it must be exposed.
1
The morality is hideous. But this is also just bad business sense on JPMorgan's part. Bring in one rich black client, others will follow.
Wow!
White ignorance is stupefying -- more stupefying to whites like me than to blacks and others of color because we don't get hit in the face with it out of who knows where.
Mr. Peters' patience in discussing issues with the clueless and uncaring decision makers at JP Morgan shows who's really doing what an adviser with fiduciary responsibilities should do. Are you listening JP Morgan?
Who else does JP Morgan-Chase think doesn't "respect" their money? Women? Seniors? People who aren't like them in every respect? Ugh.
1
JPM's Investment bank is incredibly diverse as it has senior managers from almost very nation of Europe in its ranks. Blacks on the retail side languish in a professional ghetto of lackluster opportunities and glacial promotions. This is par for the course for the finance space.
1
Surprise ... racism follows us even when we are rich
I'm closing my chase account.
2
We live not just in a racist nation but a racist world. Anyone who thinks otherwise hasn't had these real world experiences or talked with folks who have.
JP Morgan is not unique in how poorly they handled this situation. Similar to the Me Too movement, racism is rampant. The NYT should just continue to expose this behavior.
It may be 2019, but in many ways, it's as though Rosa Parks never boarded the bus.
Forget the JP Morgan spokesperson, Jaime Dimon needs to own this.
1
My bank just called because my landscaper, who is Latino, was trying to cash a check i made out to him in his name. Funny how when I, a white woman, go to the bank and cash a check made out to me I NEVER have to stand there while they call the check issuer to be sure it’s okay to give me the money!!
Racial profiling in the name of fraud protection.
4
I'd like to hear Jamie Dimon's thoughts on how this kind of behavior enhances "stakeholders" in JPMorganChase. Questionable practices found to be "non-existant". valuable accounts lost or turned away, loyal employees terminated too port the guilty. I teach courses in corporate finance and I try to include some discussion of ethics where appropriate. This will fit quite nicely in the section on banking and the lack of management and regulatory oversight at large institutions.
8
I was in my early 30's, college educated, working full-time and partnered and white. I was at work and talking with co-workers about buying a house in Brooklyn.
A co-worker with my exact same profile except she was African American asked what my locked-in rate looked like and for the terms of my mortgage.
We were both first time home-buyers.
My 30yr loan had an interest rate of less than 4%. Her loan was structured as a 15yr olan with a 13.5% interest rate. If she defaulted, the interest sky rocketed. Our banks were different banks but both very mainstream and I had definitely considered her bank. She was told she couldn't get a 30yr loan and this was the best interest rate she could get.
Our future homes were less than five blocks apart in Brooklyn.
I read the terms over the phone to my older brother and he and I were silenced. Shocked. It was incredible.
I went to the bank with her and shamed the worker but it didn't change the terms. I bought a house. She did not buy until much later. I always hope she got the terms she deserved.
55
How do you know she had the same profile as you? Very anecdotal.
1
I wish you had taken her to your lender - and told him/her to give her that same deal.
Banks, and corporations more generally, are granted extraordinary privileges and protections that ordinary individuals do not have. Banks, for example, are allowed to borrow effectively unlimited amounts of money from the Federal Reserve at interest rates lower than they charge their clients. This is the foundation of their profitability.
There is no reason that the functions of banks need to be conducted by privately owned institutions. That arrangement enables a very small group of very rich people to skim an enormous amount of money from the productive economy of providing real goods & services & accounts for an enormous amount of the extreme economic inequality in this society.
We are told that private ownership produces more rational decisions because it is subject to market discipline, but in the financial sector this is clearly not the case. The industry is thoroughly subsidized & protected from the full consequences of its many and often catastrophic errors.
That JPMorgan (and almost every other bank) is racist is not news to most people of color. Discrimination of the type described here is utterly routine and largely suffered in silence because "thats just the way it is."
We can demand that private banks mend their ways, but their inherently corrupt & unaccountable nature means only that they will find clever ways to circumvent whatever limits are placed on them.
Better to demand their nationalization so that their wealth might be used to serve the people.
11
As a practicing physician in Arizona (who did not grow up here) I've watched clinical decisions be made about African-American patients which appear partially motivated by an irrational fear of the patient. In most cases the fear is not justified by anything in the patient's history, physical stature, demeanor or current clinical presentation. I've had to reluctantly conclude that it's racist in nature.
Whether this occurs in other states I have no idea (I imagine it does) but it certainly does occur here. Not every time for every encounter, but often enough to be noticed by me.
37
JP Morgan is too large, from a regulatory standpoint, to acquire other banks. So they can - and must - grow only by attracting new customers one at at time.
The idea that they're deliberately walling that effort off from 15% of the US population is ludicrous.
6
The thought of racism and losing clients , and profits, due to that racism is also ridiculous, but it happens every day, and this sort of discrimination has been documented and is persistent. What is more ridiculous is that so many people who have never had to experience this discrimination insist it doesn’t occur, even in the face of hard evidence that it does. Go figure.
2
@Sf Too I wouldn't claim that racism is dead, but I think greed trumps it 99x out of 100. And I'd politely disagree about how well (if at all) racial bias in banking has been documented. Most if not all of those studies rest entirely on "disparate impact" and show only that minorities are more likely to pay higher interest rates or be denied loans, without adjusting for things like credit and employment history, debt/income ratios, savings cushion, etc.
Well said.
Is there anybody on this planet, who is not a complete unrepentant racist, who doesn't know that racism is in the DNA of the poorly educated, the rich this country, most corporations, the government, and most institutions? Racism will be the end of us, but it could be dealt with, by reeducating the population with the real facts of the horrendous history of this country, reinstituting the entire Voting Rights Act, making all civil rights legislation much stronger, in every state. I'm sick of it, and sick of blatant racism in social media, the news, the president, the Senate, corporations, advertising, the right-wing corrupt Supreme Court, and law enforcement, in general, etc. This is supposed to be a diverse, non-secular country. Let's reinforce that, for our own welfare, and future survival.
8
Some of this article shows the racial and class bias of the system. Some of the feedback that the employee received sounds like it came from a mediocre supersivior. Most of us regardless of color have had to suffer.
As for the woman with the settlement funds, this might have been a great moment to reach out to those less sophisticated in the world of finance and help her sort things out by priority, need and desire for both her and her family's future.
Maybe the next time the big banks come to the taxpayer for a bail out, they should be treated like this employee in a condescending manner.
11
“Most of us regardless of color have had to suffer.” Please don’t equate having a bad supervisor - which most of us have had - to being a victim of pervasive, institutionalized racism. That’s like comparing a sprained ankle to having your leg amputated.
4
I hope that JP Morgan/ Chase execs read this article. I am a long time private client and have gotten great service from the bank for both business and personal needs for more than 10 years. My only serious problem with the bank was a notable pattern among my minority employees having problems cashing checks at various branches. It was subtle for many years until the racism was so overt (refusing to cash a small check out of well established, well funded checking account - person attempting to cash was an immigrant with heavily accented English but all required identification) that I had to instruct my employee to meet me at another Chase branch so I could oversee the interaction. I filed a formal complaint and blistered the phone lines to everyone I could reach. No employee check cashing problems since that point but c’mon Jamie. Show some leadership here!
12
I'm a Chase Private Client customer and what I am reading here doesn't jibe with my experience. Both of my investment advisors are top notch, one is black and one is Asian, while I am white. Both of my advisors also work out of a branch in Silicon Valley, not one in a less advantaged area. I'm wondering if, as hinted in the recorded conversations, this has more to do with the fact this situation was taking place in Arizona vs. any built-in culture of discrimination at JP Morgan.
5
@Shane Seriously? Dis you have trouble becoming a private client? No. Maybe you had fewer barriers and continue to have fewer barriers because as a white person you are more valued as a customer. You comment seems to confirm what is states in the article
3
@Shane
The fact that it took place is the issue, sir.
To opine "gosh, it's something in Arizona" is beyond foolish; Corporate Policy comes from the top, as does responsibility for the actions of those under you.
You seem to want to absolve Chase of responsibility in this; given they fired the person who reported the issue says they are more interested in not having a public "black eye" than in doing the right thing.
3
@Shane It has everything to do with JPM contributing to and fostering racism in Arizona. Not a crime, but certainly lacking all sense of morality and ethics and shame, even if these were measured solely by the almighty dollar.
4
Hats off to Peters and Kennedy. I'd imagine this was both technically difficult and stomach-churning. I am delighted it got front page status.
Event by event, year by year, decade by decade we crawl towards the unbiased social order we deserve. The slowness and chronicity make my blood boil, but the victories are so sweet.
Great work, gentlemen! I'd love to see you magnify the value of your efforts by a very public commitment to ethical investing. Lust for money and power is a key fuel for the discrimination you've documented.
26
Wow, next time the sanctimonious Jamie Dimon lectures any of us about ANYTHING, he needs to be confronted with the culture that his lengthy leadership at this "bank" has either tolerated or created...and he's been at the helm for 15 years since the BankOne / JPM merger, far too long to claim this isn't his.
Wishing both Mr Kennedy and Mr Peters all the success in the world with their future endeavors and with their well founded suits.
28
@Menick Jamie Dimon will say move along, nothing to see here. I just recalled there was a recent 60 Minutes segment on how JP Morgan Chase is developing Detroit. On the show with Leslie Stahl, a black woman developer was featured with him walking through depressed parts of Detroit. Jaime would probably say the experiences of black men like Kennedy, Belton and Peters should not be believed because hey, I, Jamie am personally invested in rebuilding Detroit. Hmmm, so when will the gentrification and redlining in this area begin? The potential homeowners will not be able to secure a mortgage with JP Morgan Chase.
3
As a young kid I vividly remember watching the Eddie Murphy SNL skit where he put on “whiteface” to get a loan at a bank. That was in 1984.
37
Bravo for responding to despicable racism with humor. It calmed me down. Nevertheless, I am ceasing to do any business with JP Morgan Chase.
4
Yet another reason to scoff at the notion that this is the "greatest country in the world." Hardly.
23
JP Morgan Chase still behaving reprehensively? What a shock. The only business I'll engage in with a large bank is for a credit card. Checking, savings, mortgages, loans, investments - give me a small or medium size local bank any day of the week. The staff is diverse and smart and so are the customers. Big banks do not need your business. They have the federal government to bail them out the next time they help tank the economy.
26
I am white and have moved around a lot and when I can, I choose a credit union for my banking needs, not only for the minimal to zero fees but because its a local financial institution at they don't have an white corporate overlords in NYC or Charlotte.
I do have several credit cards with Chase but I pay off the balance every month. I used to have a Wachovia credit card (which was bought out by Wells Fargo -- another corrupt banking institution) but after several terrible incidents and conversations with them over the phone regarding my money and several financial snafus on their part, I dumped them.
If I ever fall into a bunch of money, I won't do any banking at Chase. As for investments, Warren Buffet has said it several times before, put your money into a low load index fund from Vanguard.
16
If we live through this president’s term, the next one we get MUST deal with systemic racism head on. I am livid with rage after reading this.
32
@Elizabeth Grey If racism is so systemic, how did we end up with our *last* president?
2
If that’s right: when Obama was elected that was proof positive racism didn’t exist. Carry on.
@Elizabeth Grey --where is it better ? Are you remotely aware of what goes on in Europe? The soccer 'fans' over there regularly ring out racist chants and even throw bananas at players of color. Asia? even worse....Wake up sister, it's better here than elsewhere. It will never be the utopia the Wokes are looking for.
Meanwhile, Dimon knows nothing, hears nothing, says nothing, reads nothing and does nothing. But, not to worry, the tens of millions keep arriving into his account on time. Is America great again, or what?
29
I've noticed that all of the criticisms here talks about "the bank" doing this or that bad thing. In truth the "Bank" is merely a piece of paper, its charter, which sits in a file cabinet somewhere. Everything "the bank" does is in fact done by people, individuals just like you and me. Banks aren't racist, or mean or greedy. People may be those things, but my guess is that big banks employ exactly the same types of folks every other business employs. If you believe big banks are bad, ask the women sitting or standing next to you on the train why she is such a terrible person.
6
@James
Sorry it's just not as simple as "Banks is merely a piece of paper, its charter, which sits in a file cabinet somewhere."
Every business has a culture, and values. Some of those values are implicit and some are explicit. Some companies even go as far having a mission statement that expresses those values.
Some companies make is very clear that racial discrimination is not tolerated. They make it known explicitly in writing and implicitly in how they treat their employees, customers and stakeholders.
Other organizations may say they explicitly don't tolerate racism but their implicit behavior in terms of hiring practices, promotions, and how they treat their customers says the exact opposite.
It takes a measure of reinforcement of values and vigilance by management to makes sure whatever cultural values the company has are part of explicit and implicit behaviors.
23
@Carl , as I said, all of these things you mention, culture, values, training, practices. promotions, etc.., are created and carried out by people, not the piece of paper that creates the corporation. If there are failings they are the failings of the people who are responsible for carry out these activities.
Thank you Ms. Flitter for your article. This was painful to read and sadly very easy to imagine. I suppose if Mr. Kennedy had conducted all of his transactions online, his funds would have been welcomed but nothing would have kept award-winning employee Mr. Peters from being bounced from an area where not a lot of people look like him. It's just too easy to get rid of unwanted employees without the benefit of proof such as recorded conversations. And I wonder if a medium-sized, millionnaire black athlete would have been treated with respect at the Arizona branch.
10
It is disappointing but not surprising. Some people just cannot help themselves from their bigoted behavior; even as a white guy I see it all the time. It is based on cowardice and lazy thinking. Even Mr. Belton, the inexperienced black bank clerk, had to assume that whites were going to be afraid of Kennedy, and Kennedy just had to accept that. But money talks, and Kennedy bailed. I bank with Chase, and I'm considering it now too.
9
The cancer of racism was, is, and will be, America's most difficult legacy to overcome.
26
"[T]he problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line." W. E. B. DuBois, 1903, The Souls of Black Folk. Apparently the 21st century, too.
3
Advice for retired athletes:
Get a cheap account at Vanguard or Schwab or Fidelity or wherever, pay a fee-only provider a little money once a year to look over your investments (but not manage them, they'll charge you for that), and live life on interest and dividends, never touching the principal. Non-savvy folks should stick to no-load index funds and trade infrequently.
And don't buy into idiotic schemes your friends and hangers-on come up with. No restaurants!
You'll wind up even wealthier 20 years down the line, much better off than if you swim with the sharks at JP Morgan or with other private banking scammers.
17
The banking industry in this country has issues with all of the "ism's". The NYTimes should do some reporting on ageism and sexism that oozes throughout our financial giants. Try being a 55 year old women who is "downsized" 2 years after a merger. Or a 59 year old of either sex trying to find a bank willing to pay a salary commensurate with skills and background. JPM Chase is now going through a downsizing where seasoned professionals are being told that they need to relocate to Columbus,Ohio or Plano, Texas to retain their jobs. You say no- you lose your job. Chase will lose valuable employees- followed by many clients. But the press will continue to fawn over Jamie Dimon.
9
This story is difficult to read in 2019. But look at the racism coming out of the WhiteHouse and all the Republicans who stand right behind the Occupant of the WhiteHouse and shore up his racism because they do not speak a word against it. Surely these racist tactics have been going on for decades. I for one have taken my money out of big banks that are not helping the community that they serve . My bank provides a community room for non profits and has a diversified work force that is not relegated to the back of the bank where they are not seen. I hope all in my neighborhood have read this article because a new Chase branch is soon to open up, and should be boycotted!
11
Institutional racism goes hand in hand with sexism. Imagine what a woman of color goes through in the banking industry.
8
Hard to believe the buck stops with Venniro or that he alone should take the fall for this.
11
To the list of JP Morgan's crimes, including all sorts of corrupt and anti-competitive practices, we can now add race discrimination. The moral rot of the country continues to spread.
6
Where did Patricia Wexler, a JPMorgan spokeswoman, obtain her degree in communications and public relations? The Sean Spicer and Kelly Ann Conway School of Advanced Communications?
She meets the definition of clueless and remains a great spokesperson for a rotten corporation.
24
"Scared of a big black man." That pretty much says it all, doesn't it? The bigotry at the bottom of the whole, festering pile of individual and institutional racism in this country. The irony is that most of this fear is projection and guilt--the visceral knowledge that black men (and women) have a right to be angry.
22
Agree
1
JP Morgan (full disclosure: I am a JPM stockholder] has a very simple criterion for becoming a "private client" according to this article. Mr Kennedy deposited $800,000 into the bank. INSTANTLY, he should have been accorded "private client" status. CASE CLOSED! As a former Merrill Lynch financial consultant AND an inactive CPA, I find JPM's conduct in this matter totally abhorrent!!!!
26
This sort of discrimination happens to women all the time, but I don’t see any reporting on that in the Times. I was pushed around, dismissed, disrespected, talked over and generally treated like a child by my broker, for many years. I fired him after finding out that he was making excessive and stupid trades in my account, milking it for fees. His actions caused me to loose many tens of thousands of dollars. When I complained to his employer, the company lined up a bunch of men to shame and me, and intimidate. it was a disgusting, horrid experience. Business as usual. I guess I’m “too female.”
8
I'm a Chase private client. I'm going to change banks today. What a despicable way to do business.
33
But this is a rampant thing across banking industry...unless you can work it yourself.
About six years ago, Merrill Lynch was ordered to pay $160 million in a racial bias suit.
See https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-xpm-2013-08-28-chi-merrill-lynch-racial-bias-settlement-20130828-story.html
I believe the same lawyers may be involved in this JPMorgan Chase situation. They and their clients will make a difference, despite DJT's appointments to the courts.
5
I'm 43 years old. Starting with BO's election and then DJT, I admit to having been blissfully naive at the undercurrent of racism that permeates this country.
7
THANK You once again NY Times for exposing wrongdoing, discrimination, and injustice wherever you find it. The world is a better place with publications like ProPublica, Washington Post, the New Yorker, and the NY Times to name a few.
If your executive assistant says, either the New York Times or Ronan Farrow is on line 1, brace yourself if you are doing something wrong.
Hopefully, the banking industry management ranks will someday more accurately reflect the American populace they are supposed to serve. And, for the record, there are lots of affluent black people in the world and they deserve the respect that everyone else gets.
4
Let me see if I understand this. Mr. Kennedy is a super bowl champion with millions of dollars. JP Morgan in AZ didn't want anything to do with him because of his race and his size? This is ridiculous. btw - the Times should request JP Morgan's internal review of Mr. Kennedy's complaint. I wonder how many less wealthy non-African American clients received "private client" status. Affluent African-Americans have many choices for financial advice. Why would they choose JP Morgan? People, it is the year 2020 in 3 weeks. What year is it in AZ? Or at JP Morgan?
11
And JPMorgan doesn’t have a racist bone in its body; it’s the least racist bank in the universe...(yes, sarcasm)
I always understood that “black” and “big” were positives in the banking world. Apparently, that’s only true of bank accounts, not people.
4
I had an unusual experience with Chase bank. I received a large settlement that was drawn in their bank. They refused to cash the check, issue a certified check, or even open an account for me. When I spoke with the manager, she told me that she didn’t trust me with the money. I am African American. The irony was that she was also African American. I made a complaint to corporate. I was told that I would receive a response. I never did.
20
I can recall, many years ago - in the last century - when I obtained an entry level job in the real estate department of Riggs Bank in Washington, DC (during the Reagan era - a heady time in Americuh!). I had just graduated college and needed a job to finance my law school education. My orientation was on the same day as the selectees for the Bank's executive positions - all white, all male. I had no access to these ranks then, and little has changed now. These folk are the worst....
4
I am a black JP Morgan customer and former employee and have received several mailed invites over the years to become a private client. Glad I never responded.
13
Not at all surprised. Back when I was a financial advisor during the hiring process they were giving me grief over some old credit card debt that I didn’t even know had went to collections (less than $500).
Meanwhile they hired the white kid around the same age as me who had a misdemeanor theft conviction on his public record as an advisor! I can only imagine as a young latino if I had such a thing I wouldn’t even have been considered.
15
The culture of the client interface reflects the culture of the market in which the company operates...unfortunately.
Visionary companies realize how this contradicts the adage "money talks" and hence creates many missed opportunities to maximize profit.
Only if consumers dump companies like JP Morgan and go to competitors who have this vision will things ever change.
If you believe in market power American, then use it.
5
I had an internship at JPMorgan. I saw my manager be a lot more help to a peer that wasn't even his subordinate than he was to me. Later I wasn't given an offer (big surprise...).
I was extended offers at several other places so oh well...
7
No question that JPMorgan engaged in racial discrimination and that it's a federal crime since they are authorized to do so by the Federal Banking System. What's shocking is that because they are authorized by the Federal government and by the One-Percent, they think the rest of the nation is fine with it. They know they own everything. They own the value speech (language prejudice is perfectly legal), and they own the value of personal appearances. They own which words we can use and what kind of education we can get. They own the past, the present, and the future.
3
As a young AA writer in the early 2000s advertising I dressed as such, old jeans, t-shirt, leather jacket and came to my bank, Chase, to make a withdraw. An older white employee asked to access my account to see if he could "help me." I'll never forget the look of shock and awe when we saw my savings balance was 20K.
"Where did you get the money?"he asked.
"I work, I save. I'm stocking up for a downpayment for an apartment."
Then he "asked if I wanted to invest in a CD," And replied that I "invested in Janus Funds."
More shock.
"Who recommended that you do that?"
"No one. I read about them in the WSJ.
Years later, thanks to this amazing article, I'm looking at the conversation in a whole new light.
52
Wow, JP Morgan dropped the ball on this one. From a purely business standpoint, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to acknowledge that as a former NFL player, Mr. Kennedy has connections to many, many other current and former NFL players. That's a lot of potential investment money. If Mr. Kennedy found a connection with Mr. Peters, he likely would have recommended him to his network. That's a win-win for everyone. Try listening to your customers for a change.
38
well this article definitely seals the deal. will never conduct any business whatsoever with JPMorgan Chase.
21
A new US banking system led by a diverse group of millenials would surely do us better than the current group of old, white, Ivy League alumni that have proven they are most skilled at creating financial meltdowns, cozying up to politicians, always enriching themselves.
17
@kat perkins I get your point but I am black, young, female and an Ivy league alumni x2. Do not lump all Ivy educated together.
2
This level of discrimination also applies to women, regardless of color. The hoops I went through to get a mortgage through Chase were unfathomable. I happen to be a financial professional who had every detail provided to them repeatedly throughout the process. Credit score well in excess of 800 and a business bank account that I had held for 14 years at the time. I had fully paid a prior mortgage and car loan taken out from Chase. But... I was a small business owner and not a W2 employee.... really? Or was it because I was a woman. Got my next mortgage elsewhere and moved my business account. Money talks people.
19
Respectfully to you and Mr. Kennedy, but money doesn’t always talk. He has the money, yet the money, in this case scenario, didn’t talk for him. It’s a shame that still these days discrimination plays a bigger roles in some people’s mind.
1
I wonder if the bank would have granted the higher status to, say, Peyton Manning or Steve Nash. Both VERY large men who had long professional athletic careers...and both white.
35
This behavior is reprehensible and indicative of how much change is necessary tight now.
11
And all of this when the consumer protection agency has been decimated.
6
Last time I bought a car, I was sitting in a cubicle at my credit union getting a loan for 2.9% and a middle aged African-American woman was in the cubicle next to me also getting a car loan. I could over hear the conversation. They were offering her 15.9% and it didn't sound like she had bad credit or unsteady work (though obviously I don't know all the details). None the less, that difference is hugely inequitable. If your wealthy and of European decent then money is practically free. And while I understand risk and rate calculations, it is pretty clear African-Americans have a much higher threshold to get the good rates. I probably should have said something at the time but I swore I would say something if ever confronted with that situation again. This kind of behavior has a huge impact on A-A communities, access to capital is everything.
42
Something doesn't sound right about this story.
I've dealt with JP Morgan Chase "Private Client". They'd love to have your money, and you don't have to be a multi-millionaire. I looked into becoming a client, and they couldn't even make or keep a simple appointment. Any discount brokerage can eat their lunch as they charge outrageous fees for nothing. Jimmy Kennedy should be grateful that he dodged that bullet.
Despite years of being a great client, Chase wanted to charge me $6.00 for a copy of my bank statement! That's ow they make money. Credit Unions are better for society, but I tried to open an account at three of them and they acted like they couldn't care less about my money (I am not a minority).
The reality is that the banking industry, and retail banking in particular, does not attract the best and brightest, and has no incentive to get better. In fact, they are anathema to capitalism, and a democratic society.
9
@lf, I have had similar experiences as a “private client,” with two different banks and a brokerage house.
Here we go again. As a conscious buy and hold small investor I am finding it more and more difficult to hold stock in companies over the long term. It seems inevitable as of late that some sort of malfeasance will surface being lying to or cheating of customers, executive corruption, environmental abuse, employee abuse, racism as in this case and/or a complete lack of integrity and transparency. As for my JMP holdings, sorry Mr. Diamond, its a sell for me.
14
Thank you for this. When I tell people I don’t think there is such a thing a truly socially responsible investing (SRI) ... they act as though I’m out of my mind. I just divested from the fossils in my account; and now need to go back and tell them to sell JPMChase. I plan to put more into a local, small-town credit union, but after reading one woman’s account of her cubicle experience at her credit union, I need to ask them if their interest rates differ between white and black customers. But I’m not sure I’ll get a straight answer. It’s hard to be ethical in managing finances because most banks are unethical in one way or another.
Complain about corporate racism and bigotry, claim that the system is rigged by the rich and powerful, and the elites call it "class warfare," stirred up by those socialist Democrats and progressives.
I think it is quite clear where the repressive class warfare is really based and carried out. And yes, it is economic, social, and highly political.
"Republicans have posed the deepest moral question of any society: whether we're all in it together. Their answer is we're not." (Robert Reich, economist and President Obama's Secretary of Labor)
26
Mr Kennedy should have taken his money elsewhere the moment he felt any kind of discrimination or disrespect. I am a white woman, but I would not do business with any company whose employee was disrespectful to me. I suggest to all those
who feel racial discrimination, take your money, business and allegiance to where it will be appreciated.
19
@jdoe212T Therein lies the rub: This is exactly why people are worn down by racism and discrimination, its a pervasive and quotidian! This is not an aberration, its systemic and likely to occur at other banks to this client. Of course he should take his money elsewhere, but a lifetime of leaving where you're unwelcome, taking money elsewhere and complaining about disparate treatment will make you exhausted and burned out and substantially worse off than your white contemporaries. And as a bonus, you will be constantly told what happened didn't, that you're a complainer, you're trying to game the system, and you're difficult, and maybe if you were a bit nicer, smiled more perhaps, such things wouldn't happen to you. Isn't it better for us to ensure that our banks, our systems--our country--are free of such injustices? What can we do about this? what can you?
911
@SFMomma Yes, what can we, what can I do about this. I am, not being facetious. I think your are right - it is up to all of us, collectively and as individuals to change. And up to all of us to hold individuals and institutions accountable table that won't or don't. People should not be treated like this.
8
@SFMomma I am white, but I hear you as I have a child with a disability and one of the strongest civil rights laws in the land: IDEA. Yet, it is like catching raindrops dealing with bias. All the types of prejudice, beyond even utterances and words. It wears a person down. The law helps, but the rain keeps falling. When I was a senior employee in an organization, I was assigned a new boss who was black and much younger than I. After a few weeks, he said, "I am so surprised. You have no problem with me being your boss." He went on to extol his absolute marvel I respected him. It stood out to me that it was so unusual he could not get over it. But I guess it was a good thing for him to experience. A better way is within us and it is not hard.
11
I am 72. My wife is 65 and an AZ native with familial ties to the state I think are in the hundreds of years.
While as a child she and her family experienced significant racial bias, we are politically liberal and for all intents and purposes white, and as adults have not experienced anything of that ilk in AZ...but it's a very red state and we know it's there given the profusion of Trump stickers, MAGA hats and our bootleg yard signs supporting Democratic candidates being torn from the yard at night in the rollups to every election....yes, every!
Several months ago we took out a sizeable portion of our liquid assets, took on a more than apple large mortgage and worked like slaves relocating ourselves to the Pacific Northwest and on an old second home we purchased here.
Now WHY you ask would retirees on a fixed if workable income take such a risk and do such a thing? Answer: FOR PRECISELY THE REASONS CITED IN THIS ARTICLE!
I could neither tolerate nor justify my continued existence in a sea of bigoted, homophobic, prejudiced-and-proud-of-it people.
On any given day in Phoenix and on multiple street corners the homeless and less fortunate with signs describing their ills beg for donations. I had often thought I should do the same with a sign reading "DEMOCRAT WANTS TO LEAVE STATE. PLEASE HELP!" I bet I'd have paid for our relocation in one weekend.
Be not surprised at what one encounters in AZ. It is a state of woeful willful ignorance.
Asta la Vista, AZ!
41
Lucky for you there are no homeless, mentally ill, or drug addicted on the streets of the Pacific Northwest.
OH....they are indeed here...lamentably in abundance.
But take heart, the silver lining in the grey clouds of a Pacific Northwest's rainy winter is the delightfully reduced concentration of Republicans.
The heart rejoices.
2
I was still working for a major bank when an effort toward diversity was made - on paper. People of color were hired, one in my department. He was new to the corporate world, and given no support whatsoever. No introduction to the culture, no orientation. Sink or swim. None of us understood this. I heard him once - his office next to mine - crying. I would act differently now, but then I had no idea what to do, to say. Of course he was soon “let go” for poor performance. This was followed by sighs of regret from management. “See? We hire them, we give them this great opportunity, and they just can’t hack it.”
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@GreatKin That is heartbreaking, but I've heard it before. This is common at law firms, and it is the lucky minority, usually the "magic" one, like Barack and Michelle Obama, who manages to have the qualifications, build the friendships and above else, secure the mentor, that will be shepherded towards the cases and hours that guarantee success. Everyone else becomes a confirmation of the narrative about how the institution tries to diversify, but it "never works out."
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Some of the worst experience I ever experienced was when I lived in Arizona. Unfortunately, none of this comes as a surprise.
6
As a former employee of the JP Morgan Chase commercial banking group, I believe all of this. I am a Black woman, and was treated badly the entire time that I worked for Chase. I was denied promotions, lied on, excluded from important meetings, and largely ignored.
Interestingly enough, the work environment at Chase became much more hostile after Trump was elected. My white coworkers became much more aggressive - refusing to shake my hand in meetings or ride in elevators with me.
After a senior white male manager called me ignorant to my face because I was unfamiliar with a loan that closed several years before I started working at Chase, I filed a complaint with HR. The retaliation by senior management was swift and shocking.
Its a very bad place for black people to work.
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@Smart Sister I am sorry you had this bad experience, and hope you're in a better job now.
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