| Review: Podcast by WSJ & Gimlet
Claiming Brooks' OCC Helped People of Color
Rings False
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SOUTH BRONX, May
21 – For possible the most
misleading, albeit
well-produced, episode of a
news podcast, Inner City Press
has a nominee: the Wall Street
Journal's (and Gimlet's) May
17, 2021 episode claiming that
in 2020 the Office of the
Comptroller of the Currency
under Brian Brooks decided to
urge banks to be fairer to
people of color, here.
"5/17/2021
4:00:00 PM No Credit Score, No
Problem? Banks could begin
issuing credit cards to people
without credit scores thanks
to an effort by a banking
regulator to make lending more
racially equitable. WSJ's
AnnaMaria Andriotis tells the
story of how Black Lives
Matter protests sparked the
effort and explains how the
lending would work."
Not.
The
episode does not even mention
the Community Reinvestment
Act, much less that this Brian
Brooks like Joseph Otting
before him assaulted the law,
and also issues a since
reversed "True Lender" (or
Fake Lender) rule expanding
high cost predatory lending,
disproportionately to people
of color.
The
episode is sponsored by
Capital One, a rogue
particularly in high cost auto
lending. Was Gimlet only on
the production quality, and
not fact checking? The WSJ
does some good reporting, but
this was not among it. More
podcast reviews will follow.
Out in the
real world, in the declared
wind-down of the Coronavirus
pandemic, at least in the
U.S., and after a fintech and
crypto-currency proponent
replaced as Acting Comptroller
of the Currency by Michael Hsu
from the Federal Reserve,
Nicolet National Bank with
only six loans to African
American versus 2,800 to
whites has applied to the OCC
to buy MBank.
Fair
Finance Watch has opposed it:
"Office of the Comptroller of
the Currency Acting
Comptroller Hsu and
Central District Office
Director for District
Licensing 425 South Financial
Place, Suite 2700 Chicago, IL
60605
Re: Timely First
Comment on Application by
Nicolet National Bank to
acquire mBank - application
must be denied, and referral
made, based on striking
disparities
Dear Acting
Comptroller Hsu & others
at OCC:
This is a timely
first comment opposing and
requesting an extension of the
OCC's public comment period on
the Applications by Nicholet
National Bank to acquire
mBank.
Shockingly, the applicant
Nicolet National Bank in the
state of Wisconsin in 2019
made 2,800 HMDA-reported
mortgage loans to white - and
only SIX to African
Americans.
Beyond this
disparity which requires
denial of this merger
application, compare to the
industry as a whole in the
state of Wisconsin in 2019:
171,953 loans to whites, 2926
to African
Americans.
The industry as a
whole in Wisconsin in 2019
made 58.7 loans to whites for
every loan to an African
American.
For
Nicolet National Bank, the
ratio was FOUR HUNDRED AND
SIXTY SEVEN loans to whites
for every loan to an African
America.
There is more to be said, but
on this outrageous record,
evidentiary hearings and
referrals are required, and
the merger application must be
withdrawn or denied." Watch
this site.
Previously, on April 3, Fair Finance
Watch filed
this: "Dear Acting Comptroller, Mr. Lybarger,
and others in the OCC: This is a timely
first comment opposing and requesting an
extension of the required OCC's public comment
period on the application by SoFi Interim Bank
to acquire Golden
Pacific.
This is a major proposal, by a fintech in
which SoftBank has a large
stake.
Inner City Press / Fair Finance
Watch opposed SoFi's previous, suspended
attempt to get into banking. Since then the
questions have only grown.
As to SoftBank, the dispute regarding
another of its holdings, WeWork, portends the
type of problems that regulators like the OCC
are directed to keep out of, not invite into,
the banking system. See also, for now, this
This stealth proposal - it appears that Golden
Pacific does not even report HMDA data - is a
cynical attempt to game the regulatory system.
See, e.g., "SoFi (NYSE:IPOE) is becoming a
bank with its $22.3 million acquisition of
Golden Pacific Bancorp (OTCPK:GPBI). Golden
Pacific is a California-based community bank
regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of
the Currency and with $150 million in assets.
The acquisition which will be paid for in cash
builds on SoFi's current application to obtain
a national bank charter with the OCC. On
closing of the acquisition, the fintech
company will switch its current bank
application to a change of control
application. This should accelerate the
timeline for SoFi's attainment of a national
bank charter." Inner City
Press opposes that CIBC application as well -
but this application clearly should not be
approved. Public hearings are needed, and
requested.
For the above reasons, including
the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns and
restrictions, the comment period should not
yet start or should extended, until in person
public hearings can be held." Watch this site.
***
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