| Capital One Should Discover
Merger Dead July 19 Public Meeting
Inner City Press FOIAed Fed
by
Matthew R. Lee
SOUTH
BRONX, May
14 – Capital One has applied
to buy Discover, in an
anticompetitive deal that
should be rejected by
regulators if they mean what
they have been saying. While
they applied late March 20, as
of 1 pm on March 22 there was
no notice of the Federal
Reserve's or OCC's websites.
Inner City Press submitted
second FOIA requests to each
agency. Public hearings should
be held, not only on antitrust
but also lending disparities
at both companies.
On April 24
the Fed extended its comment
period to May 31 - without
(yet?) granting public
hearings, nor providing the
FOIA documents.
On May 14 - still
without providing FOIA
documents - the Fed and OCC
set a July 19 virtual public
meeting: "The public meeting
will be held virtually on July
19, 2024, at 9:00 a.m. EDT.
Members of the public seeking
to present oral comments must
register by 12:00 p.m. EDT on
June 28, 2024, through the
online registration webpage,
which will be posted on the
Board's Capital One-Discover
Application Reading Room by
May 28, 2024."
On
April 19
the Fed wrote
to extended
its time to
respond to
Inner City
Press'
February 19
FOIA to May 3
The OCC
first put its application in
its reading room. And it is an
outrage, Capital One gaming
the CRA system. For example
"the Proposed Transaction
would result in CONA
establishing a new assessment
area in Delaware, which
will include all census tracts
in Sussex County and seven
contiguous census tracts
in Kent County."
That for a
nationwide card and subprime
auto lender...
As
documented by Fair Finance
Watch, Discover Bank in 2022
denied mortgage loans
application from African
Americans more than twice as
frequently as those of
whites.
Previously, Inner City Press
and NCRC challenged Capital
One's acquisition of ING
Direct, see here.This
time, given the antitrust
enforcement claims being made
in DC, this proposal should be
dead in the water. Watch this
site.
***
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