a small Chinese bank in New York and Philly wrongly prosecuted for the 2008 financial crisis
If you’ve read anything about Abacus Federal Savings Bank in the past, it was probably in relation to them being the only bank prosecuted in relation to the 2008 financial crisis. This was questioned and criticized in much of the media (a documentary about the situation entitled Abacus: Small Enough to Jail was released in 2016), as they later proved in court that only one of their employees was conducting illegal lending practices, unrelated to the subprime mortgage securities that actually caused the crisis, and were officially exonerated in 2015.
This small, Chinese bank has fortunately been able to survive the scandal and press coverage, but it just goes to show that regulators often overlook the bad behavior of large, traditional institutions in favor of going after small minority groups, even when these groups have done nothing wrong. This is why Minority Depository Institutions need our support more than ever, and why you should move your money from the mega banks that are “too big to fail.”
Abacus FSB was founded in the mid-1980s to serve the immigrant and resident population of lower Manhattan and grew with the city’s Chinese population. They now have six branches in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and also own a subsidiary company that provides insurances services. Like many banks that serve immigrant populations, they do a significant amount of small business lending, but primarily do housing loans.
That’s probably why we found this bank through our Better Banking Options search engine, as it’s the second option that shows up when you look up Better Banking Options in Philadelphia. The majority of their assets, and your deposits, go to quality, wealth-building loans. During this time when U.S. institutions are failing “minority” populations, we need to invest in Minority Depository Institutions more than ever. While it’s only one piece of the resistance against racism, financially backing immigrant and “minority” populations can make a big difference with just a small change. Move your money today.
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