CREDIT RACISM IN BRAZIL AND THE USA: DISCRIMINATORY RISK IN ACCESS TO CREDIT

Abstract

Access to credit plays significant economic and social roles in addressing Brazilian inequalities. Despite its vital importance, legal regulation in Brazil regarding discrimination in credit access is sparse across various legal statutes, in areas such as consumer law, financial regulation, international law, and anti-discrimination legislation. Considering this fragmented nature, this paper, descriptively, maps the norms prohibiting discrimination in credit access in Brazil and, analytically, presents an assessment of discriminatory risk in the use of data for credit allocation. It employs literature and regulation from the United States of America (USA) for comparison, given that, in this country, there has been legislation, institutional practice, and social mobilization on the topic for at least half a century. The research suggests the possibility of direct and indirect discrimination against Black individuals in credit granting decisions, including through the use of algorithms. The main contribution of this paper lies in presenting a classification of data into three categories of racial discrimination risk: low risk (data initially acceptable for use), high risk (data initially unacceptable for credit evaluation), and uncertain risk (data that fall into a gray area).