| As US Bank Regulators
Exclude Public They Claim They'll
Listen Oct 30 So FFW Comment
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY/SOUTH
BRONX, Oct 22 – As US
bank regulators loosen rules -
including the FDIC moving to
eliminate public comment
altogether on branch expansion
applications, and OCC to
reduce them - now big banks
are moving to get bigger, most
recently PNC with FirstBank,
and Fifth Third with Comerica.
The
cynicism of the regulators is
boundless. While the FDIC on
September 16 closed its
comment period on eliminating
public notice and comment on
branch applications, on
September 9 this announcement:
"Federal bank
regulatory agencies will hold
a hybrid public outreach
meeting on October 30, 2025,
in Kansas City, Missouri, as
part of their review of
regulations. The Economic
Growth and Regulatory
Paperwork Reduction Act
(EGRPRA) requires the
agencies, with input from the
public, to review their
regulations at least once
every 10 years to identify any
outdated or otherwise
unnecessary regulatory
requirements applicable to
certain supervised
institutions."
On October 21, as
the OCC also moved to reduce
public comment, Inner City
Press checked the docket and
found fraud-rocked Zions Bank
to have urged loosening
anti-redlinining rules. Fair
Finance Watch filed, beginning
"with issues we
raised, or have attempted to
raise, to the Office of the
Comptroller of the Currency on
one of its deregulatory
moves...
the OCC
proposes to make the process
of public notice, public
comment and CRA review nearly
meaningless.
It is already toothless. On
August 30, 2025 Fair Finance
Watch commented to the OCC on
/ against the branching
application of Terrabank NA
noting that this national bank
in Florida in 2024 made 30
mortgage loans to whites and
NONE to African
Americans.
On September 2 the OCC's
Danielle Larrimore, Licensing
Specialist, sent
acknowledgement of receipt. In
the days since, nothing from
the OCC - even as the
application is listed as
approved on the OCC website.
The OCC
proposes to further speed up
the public process - this
while the OCC is now
automatically denying Inner
City Press' requests for
expedited treatment of its
FOIA requests for
applications It is now
proposed that bank need not
even apply. How is the public
to get notice, and comment if
necessary, if there is no
information about the
proposal?
See,
American Banker, Sept 10,
2025, "The FDIC is taking the
'community' out of CRA
enforcement," by Matthew R.
Lee, here
The request for comment asks,
among other things, to
"indicate how they should be
amended."
Given recent statements about
the CFPB, Fair Finance Watch
has asked the FRB, and asks
the agencies here, to ensure
uninterrupted public access to
HMDA data, which was moved to
CFPB.
While the
entire focus seems to be
reducing regulation and
oversight, recent moves by
some in the crypto currency
industry will require more,
not less, oversight. This
EGRPRA "review" seems in
context to be a scam, a parlor
debate while the public is
being excluded. There will be
more comments and advocacy,
not less. As there much
be. The FDIC's and
OCC's recent proposals, and
the FRB's recent moves, must
be reversed. Watch this site.
***
Your
support means a lot. As little as $5 a month
helps keep us going and grants you access to
exclusive bonus material on our Patreon
page. Click
here to become a patron.
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
SDNY Press Room
500 Pearl Street, NY NY 10007 USA
Mail: Box 130222, Chinatown Station,
NY NY 10013
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
Other, earlier Inner City Press are
listed here,
and some are available in the ProQuest
service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright 2006-2025 Inner City
Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com
|
,
