Banking with a Public Benefit

Kat Taylor discusses how her triple bottom line company enhances economic sustainability in low-income communities.

The mortgage crisis that precipitated the Great Recession of 2008 and the federal bailout that followed seemed to burnish the longstanding, negative image of bankers as selfish fat-cats. But not all financial institutions and the people who run them should be painted with the same broad brush. Kat Taylor is the co-founder and co-CEO of Beneficial State Bank, a triple bottom line business focused on enhancing the prosperity, and economic sustainability, of low-income communities. Taylor spoke with Katherine Klein, Wharton’s vice dean for social impact, about her group’s long-term vision to set a different example for what a bank can be.

Banking with a Public Benefit