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00:00We talked about Greenwood Financial maybe about six months ago. This is digital banking platform launched by the rapper Killer Mike a while ago which is designed specifically to serve black and Latin text communities. They now have announced a major haul in its series A Funding Round. We're talking about 40 million dollars here from some of the country's biggest lenders. Now as part of our Unequal Recovery series. We'd like to now welcome back to this program. Rapper activist and banker Michael Render Killer Mike as well as Andrew Young the third who is the co-founder and board member as well of Greenwood. Mike welcome back to the program. Let's start off specifically with where's the money coming from. Thank you for having me. Some of them being some of the biggest banks some have jumped on board. And actually if you go to my page you just killer Mike. You can see him. I put up a whole list. I don't want to leave out anymore. Someone I do want to tip my hand to. Besides the bigger banks that are there is one of the most successful wrapped labels in the country right now. It comes out of Atlanta. It's called QC. And they also are investors in that bank. So as you people come to the page and check it out you get to see which of the big banks is putting their money where their mouth is and actually saying we're here. And you get to see then hip hop beyond singing and dancing and saying get this banking platform is putting their money where their mouth is because we wish to see more fairness and equity in the financial sector. And Andrew I mean we just put up on the screen here a graphics of some of the banks involved in this Wells Fargo PNC Visa. Bank of America as well. When you go into these banks you go into these conference rooms virtually or whatever it was. What sort of the selling point that you had to make to them. Was it hard or were they sort of eager to sort of jump on board with a concept like Greenwood. There were very positive about what we were offering and the idea was very simple. We're here to remove the bias in banking. We're here to close the wealth gap and we're confident that we have the skills to do it with the people that we've put in place and the investors we've been able to attract. Mike on that note how were you thinking about financial education as well. Particularly we've seen rates creep up just a little bit. So you want to be able to lend at affordable rates but how do you also ensure that financial education is all inclusive as well. Well the beautiful thing about party financial education is it's kind of like learning to swim in the Deep South. Your cousins take you to the lake and you get it. OK. And part of part of an ongoing financial edge education. I happen to know there's something coming down the line from the private sector where people from all own major corporations are going to be assisting schools and bringing financial education very early. So look for that to come out in terms of the unbanked part of banking and learning how to bank is just being able to bank. And what we have is banking deserts right along with food desert and many working class communities that are black brown and in the deep south even white. What this gives people the opportunity to do is have your bank right in your hand and begin their financial year. Financial education a very simple way of actually being able to deposit money without fees take out money without fees and to begin to act and to and to begin the act of banking. You guys still there to begin to act of banking. So along with financial literacy programs that are not bring with associated that I'm supporting the community also in supporting the bank getting bank because there's no better way to learn a bike than get on that bike with training. A similar question do you hear. We're getting a lot of questions about how you're specifically working with FDIC insured banks as well partnering with some other banks to make sure this really does continue to be successful. Yeah Greenwood is working closely with minority owned banks. If you go to Bank Greenwood dot com you'll see the whole program that we've laid out of how we want to be the catalyst between big banks and community banks where we attract people who are in these as Mike said banking deserts and just make financial services readily available to black and Hispanic communities in ways that they haven't in the past. And how and how do you ensure you do that though without imposing I guess too many fees. For lack of a better word. We've seen sort of people come into this space before. Maybe these sort of banking deserts but they didn't always come in with the best intentions or they came in with a business model that could only really sustain itself by charging large fees or a wide variety of fees. How do you sort of navigate those waters. Well you start by having a great founding group with killer like Ambassador Andrew Young and Brian Glover who had sincere intentions of making their community better. And so we're working closely with our investor partners to make sure that we're providing products and services that benefit our community. One hundred percent. And Mike you kind of made a point that just a little bit ago this idea that you know rappers and entertainers you know are so much more than just that. We've obviously seen that with you. Other people in the music industry like the JSE other people of course in sports like LeBron James. There is a sense now that people who have managed to sort of build a platform and build wealth through some of the I guess what are more traditional areas for a lot of black folks to build that wealth. You now have the power to sort of branch out into traditional areas of white people have had to build that wealth. Explain that a little bit more. Yeah. I I believe you. You you start from the position of power. You in my position of CAC personally singing and dancing. If Labonte is running pick and rolls and dunking a ball then that's where we need to start it. Start it which you're good at. Make money from that and then partner yourself with people who know business people like Ryan Governor people like John Hope Bryant people like Michael B Roberts and Robert Smith. We have tons of successful black people who dominated the business world. There's no reason that we should not be coordinating these people for the betterment of ourselves individually the betterment of our direct communities and the betterment of the wider community. My grandfather taught me take care of yourself very first and take care of yourself. Make sure your savings is good. Make sure your investments are good. Then take care of your neighbors. Neighbors help bills were unable to help themselves and that takes care of the wider community. If the black community is a strong community economically it's the Latino community and in poor white working class communities strong community the greater community in this country is. I'm a firm believer in self investment in community investment and in making sure that these banks help. I also like to add when you look at banks like citizen trust banks in Atlanta that's going to run for 100 years. When I first did the Bank Black Movement six years ago this bank offered a better card for people at a better rate. So I think that once in the marketplace we will have the opportunity to do the same thing. And I'd like to add that some of the benefits of banking with us at Greenwood are this. If my paycheck pays me Friday yet my rent is due Wednesday. If I'm going to continue to build the credit I need to pay that rent Wednesday. You get fronted that money on a Wednesday to pay Silvia. As your credit acclimating becomes a better credit then you go into home purchase and car purchase which you double back around get the banking or get the lending from us. Partner with FDIC banks and you get an opportunity to start to grow the American dream. Mike on that note we were watching you earlier on the live feed of Bernie Sanders. Twitter down of course in. All in Alabama. How about some Alabama. Yeah. It's been a long day. I appreciate that. Talk to us about the importance of the Amazon union. Vote to you. Well I'm a I'm a product of a union family. I'm a product and former union member of the Teamsters. When I worked at U.P.S. U.P.S. gave me two things gave me a bad back and a great man. I realized that I did. I did. I did not have the capacity to do that work 20 30 years. And anyone who does deserves the dignity of good health care. They deserve the dignity of the top rate that they can afford to be paid in these packages that we want to land or our door don't get there by magic or by robots. People were hardworking gets there. So it's not enough to say if Sandra say I want fifteen dollars minimum wage. Well we already paid 15 dollars. Well if other warehouses and other warehouses invest more paint 18 20 21 bucks then we should be equal to that. And I would also like to say any time people want to organize I have supported. He has a famous gentleman club in Atlanta and I just love to def coconuts when a girl said Michael Barr when you want a union and then you got to support us by not coming. I stopped going to that club and to those girls said it was OK. So I just like to say on every level the worker has the right to organize. Now if they vote it down it was voted down by the workers. But I like to say that the company use some scruples means in terms of scaring people out of the young people who were pro union were fired. I met women who went with had arm injuries we're told is simply walking out next Saturday. There was a woman who had a heart attack and a machine. They have air conditioners there. They're not being allowed to use. They can not turn their fans on because the fans are for the cooling of equipment and not people. So I'd just like to say as we celebrate the world's richest man and Jeff Bezos God bless his soul we have to also demand that he be like the world Richards made hundreds of years ago. Man some loser and be charitable and fair about the way he treats his workers in his own way.

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Rapper Killer Mike's Greenwood Bank Raises $40 Million in Funding

Hip Hop Superstar Killer Mike and Philanthropist and Activist Andrew "Bo" Young III joined Romaine Bostick and Taylor Riggs on "Bloomberg Markets: The Close" to discuss the bank they founded, Greenwood, and last week's hugely successful Series-A funding round, as well as challenges facing minority communities in the banking and financial centers. (Source: Bloomberg)

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