| After
Investors Bank Hit With Conditions, Fed
Rubber Stamps Home BancShares Texas Entry
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Story Order
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
FEDERAL COURT / S
Bronx, Nov 20 – Whether or not
the U.S. Community
Reinvestment Act will be again
enforced until the new
Administration and its
regulators is an open
question. And not only the
proposed acquisition of
Investors Bank by Citizens
Bank NA but also Home
BancShares / Centennial Bank -
Happy Bancshares will be
litmus tests.
On November 20
Inner City Press filed with
the Federal Reserve:
"This is a
request for a full copy of,
and a timely first comment on,
the Applications of South
State Corporation to merge
with Home BancShares, Inc. to
merge with Happy Bancshares,
Inc., and thus indirectly
acquire Happy State Bank. Fair
Finance Watch has been
tracking Home BancShares'
Centennial Bank, including but
not only because it has a
branch in New York.
The applicant's
Centennial in 2020 in Alabama
based on its disparate
marketing made 46 mortgage
loans to whites, with 19
denials to whites -- while
making only NO loans to
African Americans. This is far
out of keeping with the
demographics, and other
lenders, in Alabama - this is
outrageous. This application
should be denied, and a
referral made to the Justice
Department, as the Fed did far
too late on Cadence Bank,
whose lesser disparities Inner
City Press similarly raised to
the Fed.
This is a
pattern. Centennial Bank in
2020 in Arkansas based on its
disparate marketing made 1943
mortgage loans to whites, with
282 denials to whites -- while
making only 113 loans to
African Americans, with 37
denials. This is out of
keeping with the demographics,
and other lenders, in
Arkansas, in the state Home
BancShares' Centennial Bank
presumably performs
best. South State
Bank NA in 2020 in New York
based on its disparate
marketing made a mortgage loan
to a white application, and
none to African
Americans.
Centenntial Bank
in 2020 in Florida based on
its disparate marketing made
1591 mortgage loans to whites,
with 256 denials to whites --
while making only 52 loans to
African Americans, with 16
denials. This is out of
keeping with the demographics,
and other lenders, in Florida.
What could Home BancShares'
Centennial be expected to do
in Texas?
On
February 24, 2022 the Fed
rubber stamped it, stating
"objected to the proposal,
alleging that in 2020, as a
result of disparate marketing,
Centennial Bank made fewer
home loans in the states of
Arkansas and Florida to
African American individuals
as compared to white
individuals. The commenter
also alleged that in 2020, as
a result of the bank’s
disparate marketing,
Centennial Bank made no home
loans in Alabama to African
American individuals but made
some loans to white
individuals.27 The data cited
by the commenter appears to
correspond to publicly
available 2020 data reported
by Centennial Bank under the
Home Mortgage Disclosure Act
of 1975... The Board is
concerned when HMDA data
reflect disparities in the
rates of loan applications,
originations, and denials
among members of different
racial, ethnic, or gender
groups in local areas." But
not concerned enough.
Based on Fair
Finance Watch's comments to
the FDIC about Investors, it
recently imposed a condition
on Investors. Investors has
yet to meaningfully implement
the required improvements;
this application should not be
approved, much less at this
time. The
FDIC wrote:
"Matthew
Lee, Esquire Executive
Director Inner City Press/Fair
Finance Watch Dear Mr.
Lee: We are writing to inform
you that the FDIC approved
Investors Bank’s application
to acquire eight branches from
Berkshire Bank. As part of the
application review process, we
investigated the issues you
raised in your e-mail dated
January 19, 2019... The Bank
will develop and Board approve
an Action Plan within 60 days
of the effective date of
this Order to ensure that its
home mortgage lending
adequately addresses the
credit needs of all segments
of its market areas. The
Action Plan should
include, at a minimum, the
following: a. The Bank will
regularly monitor application
and origination activity of
home mortgage loans in
majority-minority census
tracts and from Blacks
throughout the Bank’s
assessment areas. b. The
Bank will ensure marketing and
outreach efforts are inclusive
of all communities,
including minority communities
within all the Bank’s
assessment areas. The
marketing and outreach efforts
should focus on home mortgage
product awareness.
Marketing activities should
use materials and media that
reflect the racial and
ethnic composition of
the targeted communities. The
Bank should also have
specific advertising and
outreach goals, and the
results of these efforts
should be documented,
monitored, and evaluated for
effectiveness. 5. Upon
Board approval of this Order,
the Bank will provide a copy
of the signed Order to
the FDIC's New York Regional
Office within 30 days.
6. Upon Board approval of such
Action Plan, the Bank will
provide a copy of the
Plan to the FDIC’s New
York Regional Office. 7. The
Bank will provide the FDIC’s
New York Regional Office with
quarterly updates
detailing its progress in
meeting the goals listed in
the Action
Plan."
Watch this site.
***
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