JPMorgan: Predecessors linked to slavery
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The bank said that historical researchers had found that two now-defunct predecessor banks — Citizens Bank and Canal Bank, both based in Louisiana — served as banks to plantations from the 1830s until the Civil War.
"Collateral" for mortgages and other loans "included land, equipment and/or enslaved individuals," the statement said.
The bank estimated that the two banks "accepted approximately 13,000 enslaved individuals as collateral and that the banks came to own approximately 1,250 enslaved individuals as a result" of defaults.
The disclosure did not make clear what happened to those people.
The two Louisiana banks merged in 1924 but failed in March 1933 amid the Depression. A federally chartered bank in May 1933 assumed some of the failed banks assets, and that institution _ the National Bank of Commerce in New Orleans _ was a precursor of Bank One Corp. Bank One was purchased last year by JPMorgan.
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So, two Louisiana banks used slaves as collateral in the 1800's and failed during the depression. Through a long chain of events, some of the assets and names ended up with JP Morgan. This seems like an incredibly tenuous connection to me. Is the apology called for? Does JP Morgan really have any responsibility for things done by these banks in the 1800's?