| Banks
Downgraded as Regulators Encourage Mergers
But Link Bid To Buy Partners is Litmus
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
Book
SOUTH BRONX, Aug
8– Regional banks are
being downgraded, by Moody's
and others; the US bank
regulators are encouraging
mergers. But will they uphold
the Community Reinvestment Act
as they have, of late, not
been? See below.
ecf Moody's cut
ratings of 10 banks on Monday.
Here's the list of banks
downgraded: Commerce
Bancshares BOK Financial
Corporation M&T Bank
Corporation Old National
Bancorp Prosperity
Bancshares Amarillo National
Bancorp Webster Financial
Corporation Fulton Financial
Corporation Pinnacle
Financial Partners Associated
Banc-Corp
Moody's also said
it placed six large banks
under review for possible
downgrades. They are:
Bank of New York Mellon
Corporation Northern Trust
Corporation State Street
Corporation Cullen/Frost
Bankers Truist Financial
Corporation U.S. Bancorp
Moody's also said
it shifted the outlook of 11
banks from stable to negative.
They are: PNC Financial
Services Group Capital One
Financial Corporation Citizens
Financial Group Fifth Third
Bancorp Huntington
Bancshares Regions
Financial Corporation
Cadence Bank F.N.B.
Corporation Simmons First
National Corporation Ally
Financial Bank OZK
Pennsylvania, Delaware and
Virginia are portrayed as
diverse and ever progressive
places. But their banks, not
so much.
Consider
for example the proposed
merger on the rebound between
New York-based Link Bank and
Partners Bancorp, which
recently broke off its
proposed deal with OceanFirst.
Inner City Press
and Fair Finance Watch have
long exposed redlining - and
in this vein, on May 6 they
filed a Community Reinvestment
Act challenge with the Federal
Reserve:
This is a
timely first comment on the
Applications of LINKBANCORP,
Inc. Camphill, Pennsylvania;
to acquire Partners Bancorp,
Salisbury, Maryland, and
thereby indirectly acquire The
Bank of Delmarva, Seaford,
Delaware, and Virginia
Partners Bank, Fredericksburg,
VA "and more."
Since Partners
Bancorp's attempt to sell
itself to Ocean Bancorp died
amid reports of regulator
concern, documents in that
regard should be provided (and
made part of the record on
this application), too.
Fair Finance
Watch has been reviewing
LinkBank including its 2021
HMDA data not taken into
account in any CRA exam and
finds it troubling.
In
Pennsylvania in 2021, Link
Bank made 49 HMDA-reported
loans to whites - and only TWO
to African Americans, worse
that its peers. When one
expands the review to include
loans beyond Pennsylvania,
Link Bank's loans in 2021 to
whites increase to 53, but to
African Americans remains the
same insufficient
TWO.
Virginia
Partners Bank is only slightly
better. In 2021 it made 48
HMDA reported loans and only
THREE to African Americans.
While insufficient, that is
still more than Link Bank's
TWO. A terrible bank would be
acquiring a bad bank, and
making it even worse.
After
Inner City Press' comments
were filed, LINKBANK's outside
counsel Luse Gorman PC by
Agata S. Troy and Benjamin
Azoff rather than addressing
the disparities argued that
they have no merit, including
lying to the Federal Reserve
that the FDIC considered them
substantive, then urging the
FDIC to reconsidering. This
should not be countenanced -
rather than conditional
approval, denial is called
for.
If the regulators
at the Fed and FDIC mean what
they claim, this application
should be denied. Watch this
site.
***
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