| First Busey $1B Bid For CrossFirst
Hit by Fair Finance Watch As Bowe Thumbs
Nose at CRA
by
Matthew R. Lee,
Patreon Substack
FEDERAL
COURT, Oct 15
–
In the Midwest, Busey Bank is
trying to move into the Kansas
City area via merger, with a
disparate lending record. Fair
Finance Watch with Inner City
Press on the FOIA has filed a
timely first comment on, the
Applications
Van
Dukeman, First Busey's CEO
called it a "great fit from a
cultural perspective." But
consider Busey Bank's culture
- including contempt for CRA,
its disparate lending
record:
First Busey's
Busey Bank in Illinois in 2023
- data not yet included in any
CRA exam - made 1163 mortgage
loans to whites, and only 772
loans to African Americans.
Meanwhile it denied only 216
applications from whites, and
fully 24 from African
Americans. Busey Bank should
be referred to DOJ.
Busey Bank in
Missouri in 2023 - data not
yet included in any CRA exam -
made 49 mortgage loans to
whites, and onlyseven loans to
African Americans. Meanwhile
it denied only 21 applications
from whites, and fully eight
from African Americans
Busey Bank in
Indiana in 2023 - data not yet
included in any CRA exam -
made 22 mortgage loans to
whites, and only two loans to
African Americans.
Busey Bank in
Florida in 2023 - data not yet
included in any CRA exam -
made 80 mortgage loans to
whites, and only ONE loan to
an African
American.
There is
litigation, for example under
the FCRA, here
- dropped without explanation,
presumable settled, the FRB
should ask First Busey about
all outstanding consumer
litigation.
And there was the
First Busey board member,
Elisabeth Kimmel, caught in
the college admissions
scandal, here.
When the Fed
provided the application, the
banks had withheld their CRA
data. So, "This is a formal
FOIA request for the withheld
exhibits to the First Busey /
CrossFirst application, in
particular "Confidential"
Exhibits 9 ("First Busey
Community Reinvestment Act
Data") and 10 ("CrossFirst
Community Reinvestment Act
data"). This is presumptively
public."
Rather than
provide the CRA info, First
Busey's Monica L. Bowe,
Executive Vice President &
Chief Risk Officer of First
Busey Corporation - and of the
Risk Management Association-
submitted a letter saying CRA
conditions are never attached
- false, and telling. Watch
this site.
***
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