Lending
Disparities
Shown in
Protest to
M&T -
Hudson City,
Biggest Merger
of 2011
By
Matthew R. Lee
SOUTH
BRONX, October
7 -- The
largest
proposed bank
merger in the
United States
in 2011,
M&T Bank's
application to
acquire Hudson
City Savings
Bank for $3.7
billion, has
been
challenged to
the Federal
Reserve based
on both banks'
lending
disparities.
It will be a
test of the
Federal
Reserve's
seriousness.
Inner
City Press'
Fair Finance
Watch has used
2011 Home
Mortgage
Disclosure Act
data to
document that
although
Hudson City
Savings Bank
is lesser
known than
M&T, in
for example
the New York
City
Metropolitan
Statistical
Area Hudson
City is a much
larger home
purchase
lender.
But
Hudson City
disproportionately
excludes
African
Americans and
Latinos: for
conventional
home purchase
loans in the
NYC MSA in
2011, Hudson
City made 765
such loans to
whites and
only FIVE to
African
Americans (and
only 44 to
Latinos).
Meanwhile,
Hudson City
denied the
applications
of African
Americans 3.21
times more
frequently
then those of
whites.
M&T
cannot
make up for
this: in the
NYC MSA in
2011, M&T
for
conventional
home purchase
loans made 119
such loans to
whites, and
only 17 to
Latinos. It
denied Latinos
1.91 times
more
frequently
than whites.
Hudson
City
is a much
larger home
purchase
mortgage
lender in the
NYC MSA than
M&T -
based on its
record, there
should be
public
hearings in
New York City
under the
Community
Reinvestment
Act and on
this record,
the merger
should not be
approved.
In
the
Nassau-Suffolk
(Long Island)
MSA in 2011,
Hudson City
for
conventional
home purchase
loans made 294
such loans to
whites and
only TWO to
African
Americans (and
only seven to
Latinos).
In
this
same Long
Island MSA in
2011, M&T
for
conventional
home purchase
loans made 48
such loans to
whites, only
three to
African
Americans and
NONE to
Latinos:
denial rate
100%. It
denied African
Americans 2.92
times more
frequently
than whites;
it denied
Latinos
infinitely
more than
whites
Hudson
City
is a much
larger home
purchase
mortgage
lender in the
Long Island
MSA than
M&T -
based on its
record, there
should be
public
hearings on
Long Island
and on this
record, the
merger should
not be
approved.
In
the
Bridgeport -
Stamford -
Norwalk MSA in
Connecticut in
2011, Hudson
City for
conventional
home purchase
loans made 288
such loans to
whites and
only ONE to an
African
American (and
only six to
Latinos).
Elsewhere
in the 2011
HMDA data, not
yet taken into
account in any
CRA
performance
evaluation,
moving north
M&T in the
Washington DC
MSA for
conventional
home purchase
loans made 34
such loans to
whites, and
only six to
African
Americans and
NONE to
Latinos. On
this low
volume, it
denied African
Americans 2.92
times more
frequently
than whites.
In
the
Baltimore MSA
in 2011,
M&T for
conventional
home purchase
loans made 88
such loans to
whites, only
14 to African
Americans and
only one to a
Latino.
M&T denied
African
Americans 3.67
times more
frequently
than whites;
it denied
Latinos 16.6
times more
frequently
than whites.
It bought
AllFirst and
Provident in
this market;
it should not
be allowed to
buy Hudson
City Saving
Bank.
In the
Philadelphia
MSA in 2011,
M&T for
conventional
home purchase
loans made 85
such loans to
whites, only
ONE to a
African
American and
NONE to
Latinos. On
this record,
M&T should
not be allowed
to buy Hudson
City Saving
Bank.
ICP
Fair Finance
Watch will be
submitting
more comments,
including once
it receives
the records
responsive to
its pending
Freedom of
Information
Act request.
If those
timely
requested
documents are
not received
ten days
before the
current
expiration of
the comment
period on
October 27,
the comment
period should
be extended on
that ground.
The public
comment period
should be
extended for
public
hearings in
any event.
The Federal
Reserve last
granted public
hearings on
the largest
merger of
2011, Capital
One - ING. But
click
here to
view the Fed's
February 3,
2012 FOIA
Denial,
and click
here to view
the heavily
redacted 34
page document
that the Fed
provided
to Inner City
Press (and
Capital One to
NCRC and the
other
protesters
from which it
had withheld
this
information).
What will
happen this
time, on
M&T -
Hudson City?
Watch this
site.
Fed governors,
lending
disparities
the Fed has
allowed at
M&T not
shown
Watch
this site.
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