Local Group Issues Criticism of Fifth-Third

The group that calls itself the Community Task Force held a press conference Tuesday in front of the Aronoff Center for the Arts downtown, where Fifth Third shareholders were meeting. It presented a "report card" that faulted the bank for:

* Having only five branches in Cincinnati's 10 poorest neighborhoods, versus a rate of 1.7 branches per ZIP code in other areas of the city;

* Not offering online banking in any language besides English, and not having enough Spanish-speaking tellers in neighborhoods with high concentrations of Latinos.

The group also calculated that low- and moderate-income neighborhoods and predominantly African-American neighborhoods receive less than what it termed their "fair share" of home loans.

[Business Courier...]

I appreciate the “Community Task Force’s” interest in economic equality, but this effort smacks of ignorance about the way business works. The results of their “report card” could apply to just about every business.

Free advice: instead of a “report card” faulting Fifth-Third for not stretching affirmative action to the limit, how about a report showing that there is profit to be made in low-income areas, and perhaps some guidelines on how to change or improve banking practices to better serve those areas in a way that would also benefit the bank (like suggesting bilingual tellers)?

But criticizing a bank for lack of presence in low-income areas is like criticizing car dealers for putting dealerships only in the nice parts of town.

And by the way, it's a good time to show Fifth-Third new paths to profit.