| As Toronto Dominion Bid To
Buy First Horizon Hit by Pols, Disparities
Raised by Fair Finance Watch
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
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BBC
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UK - Honduras
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SDNY / SOUTH
BRONX, June 15 – Seemingly
oblivious to US regulators
stated desire to tighten up
their merger review rules,
specifically on fair lending,
Toronto Dominion on February
28 announced a $13.4 billion
proposal to buy First Horizon.
Fair
Finance Watch has been
concerned by TD Bank's lending
disparities for some time.
Nationwide in 2020, TD Bank
denied almost as many
applications from African
Americans (833) as it made in
mortgage loans to African
Americans (853). It was far
more generous with white
borrowers: 23,469 loans made,
with only 9009 denials.
Fair
Finance Watch immediately
online noted that in New York
State in 2020, TD Bank was
even worse. It denied more
mortgage applications from
African Americans (255) that
it made loans to African
Americans in NYC (198). Again,
TD Bank was far more generous
with white borrowers in NYS:
3,558 loans made, with only
1714 denials.
On June 14,
Senator Elizabeth Warren and
Representatives Katie Porter
and Jesus Chuy Garcia wrote in
to oppose TD's proposed
merger, citing "TD Bank’s
behavior, incentivized by a
“points system” that rewarded
employees for placing profits
over fair service for
consumers and included the
creation of enrollment of
customers in new accounts and
services like overdraft
protection without their
permission." (The report they
quote is, without irony,
behind a paywall.)
The letter
is only to the OCC's Michael
Hsu, and not the Federal
Reserve which is responsible
for the larger bank holding
company merger. Watch this
site.
Fair
Finance Watch said: but just
as the Federal Reserve
begrudgingly is holding a
public hearing on US Bancorp -
MUFG / Union Bank, on March 8,
there is even more reason to
hold multiple hearings on a
large and disparate Canadian
bank buying Horizon.
Now: "The Federal
Reserve Board (Board) and the
Office of the Comptroller of
the Currency (OCC) today
announced a joint public
meeting on the proposal by The
Toronto-Dominion Bank,
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to
acquire First Horizon
Corporation, Memphis,
Tennessee. The purpose of the
public meeting is to collect
information from a wide range
of stakeholders as the
agencies evaluate the proposed
applications. By law, the
agencies are required to
evaluate: the convenience and
needs of the communities to be
served by the combined
organization; the insured
depository institutions’
performance under the
Community Reinvestment Act;
competition in the relevant
markets; the effects of the
proposal on the stability of
the U.S. banking or financial
system; the financial and
managerial resources and
future prospects of the
companies and banks involved
in the proposal; and the
effectiveness of the companies
and banks in combatting money
laundering activities. The
public meeting will be held
virtually on August 18, 2022,
at 9:00 a.m. EDT. Members of
the public seeking to present
oral comments must register by
12:00 p.m. EDT on July 28,
2022 through the online
registration web page, which
will be updated with
registration details by June
8, 2022. Further information
and requirements to present,
as well as registration
information to view the public
meeting, are available in the
attachment from the agencies.
Also today, to give interested
parties additional time to
comment, the agencies
announced that they are
extending the public comment
period for the applications to
the OCC and Board that are
associated with the proposal.
Comments on the applications
will now be accepted through
August 23, 2022."
Inner City Press
will be inquiring under the
Freedom of Information Act.
Watch this site.
***
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