African Activist Archive

The report questions claims by banks that checking accounts are not profitable. It says that several big New York banks recently announced a complete suspension of all home mortgage lending in the city; instead, banks are lending more than ever - to runaway shops in the Sunbelt, multinational corporations, and foreign governments. The big five New York commercial banks make over half of their total loans to foreign companies and governments. The report says U.S. bank credits have also been an essential ingredient of survival for repressive governments across the world. The report says U.S. bankers made loans to Chile's government until Salvador Allende was elected; they then cut off virtually all credits, until he was overthrown. The report says the Shah of Iran's dictatorship received billions of dollars from U.S. banks. The report includes a leaflet about Citibank: "WORLD'S LARGEST LENDER TO SOUTH AFRICA." The report discusses Chase Manhattan, Manufacturers Hanover, Chemical Bank, Bankers Trust, apartheid, and redlining. The leaflet says a 1979 United Nations report reveals that Citicorp was involved in $1.6 billion of loans to South Africa between 1972 and 1978. [Note: This PDF may have been made from a copy; the leaflet on page 2 is incomplete.]

African Activist Archive

Some Background on Foreign Lending

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Coverage Africa

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Rights Management

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