JPMorgan pledges $30B to close America’s racial wealth gap

Brian Lamb - JPMorgan Chase Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion joins Yahoo Finance’s On The Move panel to share solutions to help end the racial wealth gap.

Video Transcript

JULIE HYMAN: JPMorgan Chase announced today that it is pledging $30 billion to help address US wealth inequality. In a statement, CEO Jamie Dimon saying systemic racism is a tragic part of American history and talked about what the bank is doing to try to address it. Joining us now is Brian Lamb. He is Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion at JPMorgan Chase to talk us through what the bank is doing. Brian, thank you so much for joining us. So I've been looking through the various commitments that you all are making, which includes things like $14 billion in loans and investments to create more affordable rental housing units, other things like mortgages and refinancing. I'd like you to explain sort of how this is different from what JP Morgan would be doing otherwise in Black and Latino communities.

BRIAN LAMB: Well, Julie, first of all, thank you for having me, and you know, I think what's so important to understand about the commitment that we made this morning, of course, centers around a business led approach to addressing what we believe are longstanding challenges and obstacles around economic inclusion, racial equity and social justice. And I think if you look into the bold commitment of the $30 billion, you'll notice very specific measurable commitments that we've made that are over and above. They're incremental. They're new, if you will, in terms of what we believe strike right at the heart of the challenges in the Black and the Latinx communities, in the underserved communities in the markets that we serve.

And what's also really important is this builds upon the work that JPMorgan Chase has done for years. Under the leadership of our CEO and Chairman Jamie Dimon, we've had a longstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion. And this gives us a chance, quite frankly, to do even more, because we believe strongly there's still work to be done.

ADAM SHAPIRO: Mr Lamb, welcome to the program.

BRIAN LAMB: Thank you.

ADAM SHAPIRO: A guest on our program in the past, a man by the name Martin Cabrera, it's Cabrera Capital Markets out of Chicago, and he made the point, he is Latino, made the point that Wall Street still tends to gravitate its business not towards people of color. I don't expect you to give business to a competitor, because essentially he very well could be, but how does a mega institution like JPMorgan Chase perhaps address that as well as what you are doing meaningfully for middle America but also that other issue with Wall Street?

BRIAN LAMB: Right, so if you think about the commitment, there's a couple important tenets to it. Number one, it's very measurable, and what we believe based on the research, the information and the voice of the community that we listen to, we believe it gives us a couple of opportunities. Number one, we use our own balance sheet, right? JPMorgan Chase believes it's very important that we put our own capital to work to help the underprivileged communities. Number two, you'll notice that it works very closely with longstanding partners, CDFIs and community leaders that are proximate to these communities that can give us advice and perspective and help put this capital to work quickly.

Number three, there's a philanthropic component. Even though we didn't lead with philanthropy intentionally, we do believe it is a very important companion solution that allows us to, if you will, kind of elevate and amplify the work that's being done by our businesses, and so we will work with a number of partners to execute on this important strategy. There's obviously a Wall Street component to it in terms of us sending a message as the largest financial institution that this is important and that others, obviously, should be thinking about what they can do to invest in well and make a systemic difference for the future.

BRIAN CHEUNG: Hey, Brian. It's Brian Cheung here. So obviously as one of the largest institutions going out and executing on these diversity initiatives also relies on the execution of the diversity initiatives within the company, so one example being out on the operating committee at JPMorgan Chase, I believe only one of the members or so are a person of color, only one of the 10 board of directors is a person of color. How do you not just throw money at the situation, but try to institutionalize the corporate culture to allow for more diversity within the bank? And it's not just JPMorgan Chase, it's the industry broadly, and then use those initiatives to then apply to the outreach.

BRIAN LAMB: No, Brian, I appreciate it. If you think about representation and inclusion as a broad strategy around the work to be done to make sure we create an environment and a culture of respect in our own organization, that's work that we're doing. We're really excited to see that the announcements that Jamie Dimon has appointed additional diversity to our operating committee, both women, people of color, including Hispanic. That's important, and I think that sends a loud and clear message that from the top, we're going to make differences down through our organization, and it will create opportunities, to your point, for other organizations, other Fortune 500s to take similar action.

We're taking it serious. We believe we have an opportunity to continue to get better. And so if you think about one of the other important components of our announcement, we talk about accountability for top level leadership to drive up representation and inclusion in the firm and that they'll be held accountable around making sure we do that as we move forward in the future. So we believe we've got the right inspection, the right accountability. We absolutely have the right leadership to do this, and we hope to be a model in financial services and frankly in corporate America.

JULIE HYMAN: Brian, correct me if I'm wrong, but your position doesn't fall within the operating committee, correct?

BRIAN LAMB: That's correct.

JULIE HYMAN: So would it make sense for it to? I mean, not to put you on the spot here and tell you what to tell your bosses, but if indeed JP Morgan really wants to integrate diversity and inclusion into all lines of its business, wouldn't it make sense to have your position as part of the operating committee to kind of coordinate all of that action or to-- I mean, I don't know the management structure of the bank intimately, certainly, but talk to me how it works.

BRIAN LAMB: Yeah, no, I think it's important to talk about that. So, you know, operating committee is a body that we've been referencing, but I think what's really important to understand is actually how we run the business. And Jamie Dimon, Gordon Smith, Daniel Pinto, our two co-presidents who I report directly to and work very closely to, are operating the business. DNI is woven throughout our decision making around strategy, around how we inspect our process. The access and the interaction that I have with our top level leadership on the operating committee is daily, and so I would give you some comfort that I feel very strongly that my involvement and my engagement in terms of how we make decisions across the firm to drive diversity and inclusion is paramount and is a strategic priority, including our interaction with the board.

If you think more broadly and strategically as you think down the organization, our top level leaders around the world are all part of designing their own path forward. The very specific and intentional actions that we must take to drive representation and inclusion in the firm and have real systemic and material impact in our communities with our clients and our customers. So I'll give you some comfort in terms of the way we operate the business. Under the leadership of our chairman and CEO, we feel very strongly that we're organized in the right way to drive the right outcomes. And important, Julie, the commitments that we're making, we're going to be transparent around our progress. And so we will get a chance to hold ourselves accountable as we move into the future on the work and the job to be done.

JULIE HYMAN: Well, Brian, on that front, hopefully you'll come back and see us soon and we can talk through, as you guys start to allocate this capital, we can talk through some of the places it's going. Brian Lamb, thank you so much. JP Morgan Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion joining us on the day that JPMorgan is pledging $30 billion towards various diversity efforts and efforts at decreasing wealth inequality. Thanks again, Brian.

BRIAN LAMB: Thank you.