Banking on a Revolution

Technological advancements are poised to completely transform the financial system, making it unrecognizable in just a few short decades. Banks are increasingly using financial technologies, or “fintech,” to deliver products and services and maximize their profits. Technology enthusiasts and some consumer advocates laude fintech for its potential to expand access to banking and finance. If history is any indication, however, fintech stands to reinforce digital forms of redlining and enable banks’ continued racialized exploitation of Black and Brown communities. Banking on a Revolution takes the perspective that the financial system needs a revolution—and not the impending revolution driven by technology. Studying various ways the financial system advantages whites by exploiting and marginalizing Black and Brown communities, Terri Friedline challenges the optimistic belief that fintech can expand access to banking and finance. Friedline applies the lens of financialized racial neoliberal capitalism to demonstrate the financial system’s inherent racism, and explores examples from student loan debt, corporate landlords, community benefits agreements, and banking and payday lending. She makes the case that the financial system needs a people-led revolution that centers the needs, experiences, and perspectives of those it has historically excluded, marginalized, and exploited.