Banks Judged On How They Treat People, For Once

From The American Prospect: Unsanitized:

If anyone knows something about the economy, it’s banks, and they are preparing for a long, slow recession with a wave of loan defaults. Big banks have been stockpiling cash to cover the losses. Despite this, JPMorgan Chase beat the estimates on its earnings, with strong profits made in equity markets. The Fed rescue can be seen directly profiting Wall Street here, and this was truefor most banks, with the glaring exception of Wells Fargo. Bank windfalls from no-risk fees in the PPP small business program have also boosted the sector.

Typically, this earnings activity would yield banks a positive rating from federal regulators. There are several ratings “scorecards” used, the most prominent known as CAMELS, which measures a bank’s condition based on earnings (the E), capital adequacy (the C) and other factors. But this year, in the wake of the crisis, banks had to contend with a new scorecard, one based more on how banks treat customers and their own workers.

The Committee for Better Banks, a coalition of frontline workers in bank branches, put out its own scorecard of the COVID-19 response of the twelve largest retail banks between March and May. Only one, Fifth Third Bank, earned above a C, and four banks—US Bank, Wells Fargo, PNC, and Santander—got an F.

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