| Amid PPP Abuse Lenders Like
MUFG Refuse As Inner City Press Requests Basic
Data
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- CJR -
PFT
SDNY COURT /
SOUTH BRONX, May 20 –
Amid the
COVID-19 pandemic, fair
lending and the Community
Reinvestment Act are taking a
back seat, or worse. Some
banks to which CRA applies are
excluding smaller businesses
and those in communities of
color. And some banks bragging
about the PPP loans won't
provide any information - we
are Pressing.
Inner City Press / Community
on the Move has begun
contacting both banks and
non-banks for their Paycheck
Protection Program data.
Without yet getting into the
result, note that Japanese
owned MUFG Union Bank has for
now responded to Inner City
Press' questions with, "Mr.
Lee, Thank you for your
interest in MUFG Union Bank’s
lending and the results of our
participation in the CARES Act
Paycheck Protection Program
(PPP). Loan data for loans
originated through the PPP
will be included in the bank’s
2020 CRA Submission. Bobbi
Salgado, CRA Director, MUFG
Union Bank N.A." UNacceptable.
We note this is one of
Otting's national banks.
We'll have
more on this.
While U.S.
Comptroller of the Currency
Joseph Otting is pushing
forward with his proposal to
weaken the CRA, his new chief
national bank examiner Blake
Paulson said bank examinations
have gone 95% off-site.
The
Federal Reserve says it is
suspending "non-critical"
examinations, even at the
largest institutions.
Meanwhile the Fed
is pushing forward to approve
bank merger applications, like
Banco Bradesco - BAC which
Fair Finance Watch has been
opposing, as it has commented
to the OCC against the
acquisition of State Farm's
health savings account
business by Webster Bank,
based in part of Webster's
problematic Paycheck
Protection Program
performance.
Fintechs and other non-bank
financial firms are now at the
PPP trough and are getting
sued. For example, there is
the lawsuit filed as a class
action against Fountainhead
Commercial Capital LLC on May
6, noting the finance firm
advertised that it would
process loan requests on a
first-come, first-served basis
and then stealthly shuffled
its line of PPP applicants so
that it would lock down the
largest lending fees first.
Meanwhile Paulson of the OCC,
which wants to admit fintechs
into banking without
regulation, says no one is in
PPP for the money. This while
in response to Inner City
Press' FOIA request for
Otting's schedule the OCC
redacted the names of banks
that he met without, and
obscured others. (A FOIA
appeal has been filed.)
Amid
all this, Fair Finance Watch
and Inner City Press /
Community on the Move are
launching a new project. Watch
this site.
***
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