The city council and community members say they want to see a bank that puts money back into the city for issues such as homelessness and housing.
DALLAS — The City of Dallas has a bank depository contract with Bank of America. That means the city uses this bank for services such as automated cash management information, deposits and payments which they said total around $200 million.
That contract ends in December, and the city could be looking at doing business with a new bank.
After WFAA’s Banking Below 30 series showed that banks were underserving minority and low to moderate-income areas, the City of Dallas passed the Responsible Banking Ordinance No. 32211 in 2022.
It requires the city’s main bank to give an annual report showing how it is committed to those neighborhoods.
At the city council’s Government Performance and Financial Management Committee meeting, the Treasury Division said five banks submitted proposals to battle out who could better serve the entire city and not just communities above Interstate 30. Those proposals include plans for racial equity and reinvestments back into communities.
Bank of America could be one of those five who submitted proposals, but the Treasury Division cannot say who those candidates are while they are still in the review process.
In the meantime, council and community members said they want to see a bank that puts money back into the city for issues such as homelessness and housing.
”It’s important that banks understand that because this need for credit and funding plays a huge role in many aspects of our lives, including a very important issue, which is housing. You know, if people aren’t able to get into homes throughout our city, that plays a huge impact in a lot of other issues related to economic development, public safety, and just the overall quality of life that people get to live,” said Jaime Resendez, Dallas City Council D-5.
Although Bank of America’s contract ends in December, the city’s evaluation committee is hoping to choose one of those five banks that submitted proposals before July.
“Whatever that bank is, they affect the city positively because you’re going to get a bank that actually wants to do right in the community, that wants to be transparent as far as what they’re doing,” said James McGee, Southern Dallas Progress Community Development Corporation President and Board Chair.