After
FFW Protests Sterling's
Application To Buy
Damaged Astoria, Fed Confirms
Receipt
By Matthew R.
Lee, New
Platform
NEW YORK, April
28 – After Astoria Bank's protested
proposal to be acquired by New
York Community Bank fell apart
in late 2016, it found a new,
equally controversial suitor:
Sterling Bancorp. Now Fair
Finance Watch has submitted a
first Community Reinvestment
Act challenge to the proposed
merger, receipt of which the
Federal Reserve has now
confirmed, here.
Inner City Press' summary of
FFW's filing: "Dear Chair
Yellen, Secretary Misback and
others in the FRS: This is a
timely first comment opposing
and requesting an extension of
the FRB's public comment
period on the Application by
Sterling Bancorp, Montebello,
New York (“Sterling”) to merge
with Astoria Financial
Corporation, Lake Success, New
York, and indirectly acquire
Astoria Bank (“Astoria”).
This would be a combination of
banks with disparate and in
places highly irregular Home
Mortgage Disclosure Act
(“HMDA”) data. The proposal is
the desperate result of the
failure of Astoria's attempted
merger with NYCB. That is no
reason to approve this
mis-conceived combination. The
applicant's Sterling National
Bank (“Sterling”) in the New
York City MSA in 2015 for
African Americans for home
purchase loans denied the
applications of African
Americans 3.58 times more
frequently than those of
whites - much worse than other
lenders. Sterling made only 22
such home purchase loans to
African Americans, versus 495
to whites (and only 37 to
Latinos) - again, much more
disparate than other lenders.
This bank should not buy
Astoria. Remember: in the
Nassau Suffolk MSA in 2013,
Sterling made 149 home
purchase loans to whites – and
only one to an African
American. For home improvement
loans, Sterling made 30 to
whites, none to African
Americans. Taken together,
this is unacceptable. The
comment period should be
extended to clarify – or
refile – the HMDA data;
evidentiary hearings should be
held; and on the current
record, the application should
not be approved.
For the record, the CRA plan
required after Fair Finance
Watch's previous protest, we
contend has not been complied
with, and request evidentiary
and public hearings on that
basis.
Also for
the record: 'The
NYCB-Astoria Financial Merger
is Kaput: Consumer advocates
were among the groups that
opposed NYCB’s acquisition of
Astoria…'"
In
January, disparate lender
Investor Bancorp, on which
Fair Finance Watch previously
got a condition imposed saw
its proposal with Bank of
Princeton fall apart.
There's
also Capital One - Cabela, on
which Inner City Press
commented: "In the New York
City MSA in 2015, the most
recent year for which HMDA
data is available, for
conventional home purchase
loans Capital One denied the
applications of whites 23% of
the time, while denying
African Africans fully 45% of
the time, and Latinos even
more, 46% of the time. This is
unacceptable.
Meanwhile, Capital One
is “closing branches in
Laurel, Gaithersburg,
Frederick and Merrifield.”
Capital One came back with
snark, as has Simmons National
-- but then announced
including to NCRC that
it will withdrawn its
application. Onward.
***
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