Minority-Owned Banks: History and Trends

The minority banking industry, which experienced significant growth during the 1970s, remained strong through the 1980s, with a 71-percent increase in total assets between 1983 and 1989. But hidden in that figure is a dynamic process of growth and change resulting not only from minority banks’ efforts to adjust to deregulation, adverse macroeconomic conditions, and increased competition—factors with which all U.S. banks must deal—but also from their efforts to deal with the specific environmental factors and risks that they alone face.