| Fed On
Community Reinvestment Act While Prepares
Rubber Stamp for M&T, Old National
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Story
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
FEDERAL COURT / S
Bronx, July 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 the proposed
merger of two redlining banks,
M&T and People's United,
will be a litmus test, see
below.
On July 20, the
Federal Reserve announced that
"it is committed to working
together with the Office of
the Comptroller of the
Currency (OCC) and the Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation
(FDIC) to jointly strengthen
and modernize regulations
implementing the Community
Reinvestment Act (CRA). "We
are delighted to work together
to develop a joint Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking building
on the Board's September 2020
Advance Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking, which was intended
to provide a framework for a
joint rulemaking that ensures
the CRA remains a strong and
effective tool to address
inequities in access to credit
and meet the needs of low- and
moderate-income communities
and garners broad support,"
said Federal Reserve Governor
Lael Brainard."
The inter-agency
statement: "WASHINGTON -- The
Federal Reserve Board, the
Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation (FDIC), and the
Office of the Comptroller of
the Currency (OCC) are
committed to working together
to jointly strengthen and
modernize regulations
implementing the Community
Reinvestment Act (CRA).
The agencies have broad
authority and responsibility
for implementing the CRA.
Joint agency action will best
achieve a consistent,
modernized framework across
all banks to help meet the
credit needs of the
communities in which they do
business, including low- and
moderate-income
neighborhoods."
And another
litmus test: Old National's
proposal to buy First Midwest.
On June 28, Fair Finance Watch
and Inner City Press on the
FOIA) filed this with the Fed:
Dear Chair
Powell, 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 Applications by
Old National Bancorp,
Evansville, Indiana; to merge
with First Midwest Bancorp,
Inc., and thereby indirectly
acquire First Midwest
Bank.
The
applicant Old Nationa in
Indiana in 2019 based on its
disparate marketing made 3312
mortgage loans to whites, with
1060 denials to whites --
while making only SIXTY TWO
loans to African Americans,
with more than that in
denials: 65. This is
outrageous. This
is unacceptable.
Worse, in 2020 in
Indiana Old National made MORE
loans to whites than in 2019
(3976) and essentially the
same to African Americans
(65).
In 2020 in
Minnesota, based on its
disparate marketing, Old
National made 1387 loans to
whites, and only fifty to
African
American.
This is totally
unacceptable.
So is this:
"First Midwest CEO likely to
see pay jump following Old ...
First Midwest's merger with
the Evansville, Ind.-based
parent of Old National Bank
will have the unusual
distinction of employing two
bank CEOs and two bank...."-
Crain's Chicago
Business
There is no public benefit to
this
proposal.
FFW and Inner City Press have
been deeply concerned about
the rush by the FRS' penchant
to rubberstamp mergers by
redliners, particularly during
the pandemic. We note the
Fed's recent website statement
that a comment period has been
extended to allow
participation amid the
Coronavirus crisis. This
should be done, by the Fed's
logic, on this and other
applications. Inner City Press
has already filed a FOIA
request with the Board for
records, today, with the
application still not on the
Board's website, which has no
comment period running past
June 17 - the responsive
records must be provided
before the comment period can
close.
Inner City
Press (and Fair Finance Watch,
on the HMDA) will have more to
say about this. Watch this
site.
While
M&T - People's United
still pends in the Federal
Reserve, with a promised
expedited FOIA response still
not forthcoming, the Fed in
mid May approved PNC - BBVA,
with a rare abstention by
Governor Lael Brainard, albeit
on antitrust and not CRA or
fair lending grounds.
***
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