Rhode Island bank agrees to pay $9m over discriminatory lending allegations

DoJ says Washington Trust engaged in redlining, the racist policy of banks blocking people of color from getting mortgages

Washington Trust, the oldest community bank in the US, has agreed to pay $9m to resolve allegations that it engaged in lending discrimination against homebuyers in majority Black and Latino neighborhoods, the Department of Justice has announced.

Since the company was founded in 1800 in Rhode Island, the bank has never offered its home loan services at a branch location in a majority-Black or Latino neighborhood throughout the state, including in the state capital of Providence, where the vast majority of the state's Black and Latino population live.