Several banks, large and small, responded quickly to the tragic Haitian earthquake by pledging money directly or setting up funds through which customers and employees can contribute.
Through Monday, at least 24 institutions and financial services firms had pledged more than $14 million in aid to Haiti after the Jan. 12 quake that killed up to 200,000 people and left at least 1.5 million homeless, according to reports.
“The recent earthquake in Haiti has caused unprecedented devastation and tragic loss of life, and at U.S. Bank we understand how important it is for us to step up and provide financial assistance in support of the relief efforts,” said Richard K. Davis, president and CEO of U.S. Bancorp, in a statement.
Meanwhile, as donations from the U.S. poured in, news emerged this week in the UK that millions of donations to Haitian refugees were being held up because of glitches with banks’ anti-fraud software, which often block out-of-norm payments of credit and debit-card holders. The BBC noted that banks sometimes halt payments to charities because a standard tactic by card thieves is to test stolen cards with charity organizations to see if the card has been reported lost. An HSBC spokesman told BBC Radio 4’s Money Box that the “vast majority” of Haitian donations have gone through. For more on that story, click on http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8463286.stm
Here’s a partial list of financial institutions that have made donations to the earthquake relief effort:
Deutsche Bank: $4 million through AmeriCares, Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam America and Partners in Health. The donations came from all of its US agency equity trading commissions on Friday.
Citigroup: $2 million to American Red Cross and other local organizations involved in reconstruction efforts.
Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs: $1 million each.
Bank of America: $1 million to victims of the earthquake, as well as a $500,000 grant to the Haitian Relief and Development Fund.
JPMorgan Chase & Co: $1 million in company and employee contributions, which will include funds for Red Cross and CARE.
Jefferies: $1 million of Friday’s net commissions to the Red Cross, Unicef, Save the Children and the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund.
State Street: A $400,000 grant through the State Street Foundation’s Disaster Relief Emergency Assistance Fund to Oxfam America’s Haiti Earthquake Response Fund. Also matching employee contributions through Oxfam America and global Oxfam chapters up to $100,000.
Harris Bank/BMO Financial Group: $250,000, as well as waiving fees on sending drafts and fund transfers to relief efforts.
Visa, MasterCard and American Express: Each pledged between $200,000-$250,000, as well as a waiver on interchange fees for donations. Discover donated $100,000, as well as pledging $1 million through a card-member matching program.
BBVA Compass: Up to $100,000 in dollar-for-dollar matches to customer contributions.
New York Life Insurance Co.: $100,000 the Red Cross, plus another $150,000 in matching employee contributions.
Northern Trust: Pledged $250,000 in aid to the Red Cross.
US Bancorp, M&T Bank, TD Bank and Wells Fargo & Co: $100,000 each to the Red Cross.
Astoria Federal Savings: $25,000 to the Red Cross, and up to $25,000 in matching contributions through February from customers at its branches in New York. Astoria will also match two-for-one on each dollar contributed by its employees, up to $5,000.
Both The State Bank and Park State Bank & Trust in Colorado are teaming with mobile transactions firm Bling Nation to donate 1 percent of all mobile transactions to the Salvation Army for 30 days.
Northfield Bank Foundation (NY): $25,000 to the American Red Cross International Response Fund.
Source:americanbanker.com/
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