The Banker (2020) Trivia Quiz

Answer: Shining shoes

In an early scene in the film Bernard is shown shining the shoes of two influential bankers in the city of Willis, Texas in 1939. After he finishes he jots down in his notebook what the bankers had been discussing. His notes included formulas relating to rates of return and multipliers that are used for valuing assets like businesses and properties.

Answer: Los Angeles

Bernard intended to have a real estate business that specialized in renting out properties and making investments. When they first started in Los Angeles Bernard rented from his wife's uncle who was not confident that a black man could succeed as a real estate investor with the prejudices that existed.

While Los Angeles is certainly depicted as more accepting of black business owners than Texas in the film Bernard and Joe still solicit the help of a white man named Matt to be the face of their business ventures.

Answer: Irish

The property Bernard buys had a selling price of $40,000 but Bernard could only pay $30,000 from his own money for it. After unsuccessful negotiations with the seller, Patrick Barker, Bernard goes to a local bank. In an interesting twist Barker actually ends up co-signing on the $10,000 bank loan to Bernard because he realizes that he is a problem solver and thinks outside the box of how business is usually done.

Barker mentions to Bernard that the deck is stacked against him since he is black and that he must transact business in non-standard ways. Barker informs Bernard that as an Irishman he was also subject to racial prejudice but that it was typically done behind his back whereas the black community faced it directly.

Answer: Samuel L. Jackson

Samuel L. Jackson was born in Washington, D.C., in 1948 and through the year 2020 films in which he acted had grossed more than $27 billion, the highest of any actor or actress. Two of Jackson's well-known roles were as Mace Windu in the "Star Wars" series and as Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In "The Banker" Jackson's character Joe Morris owned a dance/nightclub called the Plantation Club as well as over a dozen other businesses in the Los Angeles area before partnering with Bernard.

In addition to Samuel L. Jackson, other cast members of "The Banker" included Anthony Mackie as Bernard Garrett, Nicholas Hoult as Matt Steiner and Nia Long as Eunice Garrett.

Answer: Golf

Matt thinks that he will naturally be good at golf since he played sports in high school. As many of us have learned (this quiz writer included), this is not necessarily the case. However, over the course of a month Matt is able to learn how to play and talk about the game of golf to those that are regulars.

To learn to speak to businessmen Matt also takes lessons from Bernard about banking, finance and mathematics. At first he struggles but over time he is able to quickly recall complex business terms and perform calculations in his head. Comically he is also instructed about proper etiquette while eating in a formal setting and how to drink scotch.

Answer: Desk

Matt and the seller go back and forth about the valuation of the building and the capitalization rate that should be used. Matt convinces the seller to agree to a 10.5% cap rate and an 18% markup for a value of $1,554,060. However, he then mentions that if he is left the spacious desk they can call it even at $1,560,000. That's $5,940 for the desk, quite expensive for the 1960s!

Answer: Mainland Bank

Bernard mentions to Joe that banking in simplest terms involves taking in deposits and making loans, primarily on real estate. Joe counters with the obvious that they are black and that the bank is in Texas. Buying the bank would help the social mobility of the black community in Bernard's hometown and he also believes that the bank is undervalued so Joe eventually agrees.

Answer: Approved loans

When Bernard, Joe and Matt bought Mainland Bank the seller required that his son stay on as a loan officer. After the sale Mainland Bank's loan approvals skyrocket and it is uncovered that loans were being done discretely to black businesses and home owners. The increase in loan volume prompts the U.S. Treasury Department to move forward the date of its yearly inspection on the bank.

Answer: True

After the loan approvals at Mainland increase Matt recommends to Bernard and Joe that they buy Marlin Bank which is a fraction of the size of Mainland. Matt ends up being both the president and decision maker at Marlin Bank and unknowingly he approves the sale of loans to Marlin that are risky and outside the scope of a small bank.

This prompts him to then sell these loans back to Mainland which triggers the FDIC to shut down both banks and detain Matt, Bernard and Joe.

Answer: A janitor's uniform

As chairman of the committee Senator McClellan asks Bernard to make an opening statement. In his statement Bernard cites the Declaration of Independence about how "all men are created equal". However, he mentions that this is not the case and that the real trial should be about how banks and the government are complicit in not allowing blacks to obtain loans and have access to capital to grow wealth. He then emphatically states that he was able to own a bank but that in order to walk inside it he had to wear a janitor's uniform which he shows to the committee.

Interestingly, three years after Bernard's testimony the Fair Housing Act of 1968 was passed which made it illegal in any U.S. state to refuse to sell or rent property on the basis of race, religion or gender.