Fulton Bank partners with Minority Mortgage Bankers on training

Fulton Bank in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, has started a partnership with the National Association of Minority Mortgage Bankers of America to increase its diversity and internal training programs.

The bank said it aims to help traditionally underserved communities with better representation in its mortgage division and will work to reduce biases with focused employee and leadership trainings. How much the bank intends to expand its hiring within minority groups and what the training programs will entail will be determined as the partnership develops, a company spokesperson said. The partnership is set to run through the end of 2022.

The commitment dovetails with the bank’s Fulton Forward program, founded in 2019 to promote racial equity and economic empowerment through financial education. The bank also launched the Fulton Forward Foundation in July 2020, which provides donations of $20,000 or more to organizations advancing equality in homeownership.

“This initiative will build on programs we offer across the spectrum of mortgage lending, including those focused on underserved communities and first-time homebuyers,” Jeff Scheuren, president of Fulton Mortgage Co., said in a press release Monday. “It also aligns with key pillars of our Fulton Forward initiative to enhance our communities through affordable housing and homeownership.”

The bank has about $26 billion in assets under management and over 200 locations serving Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington D.C.

Founded in 2016, the National Association of Minority Mortgage Bankers of America is a trade association headquartered in Atlanta that works to create sustainable homeownership by supporting women and minorities in real estate finance. It estimated minority borrowers accounted for 24.2% of purchase volume in 2020, a share that projects will only increase over time.