| Santander Proposes to Acquire Webster
Bank with Disparate Record and Health Care
Scams
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
SOUTH BRONX /
SDNY, Feb 3 – The proposed
acquisition of Webster
Financial Corp. by Banco
Santander raises troubling
issues, Fair Finance Watch has
found.
In 2024 in New
York State Webster made fully
324 mortgage loans to white
applications with only 171
denials to whites - while it
made only 43 loans to African
Americans with fully 34
denials to African Americans.
Santander,
meanwhile, is one of the few
large banks given a Needs to
Improve rating under the
Community Reinvestment Act in
the last decade.
Focusing
for now on Webster, Fair
Finance Watch (with Inner City
Press on the FOIA) challenged
its deal with Sterling in
2021.
On June
25, 2021 the Fed asked the
banks a series of questions,
below and full letter on
Patreon here
Inner City
Press reported that on
November 5, it was sent a copy
of the Federal Reserve's
additional letter to Webster
and its (ex-Fed) outside
counsel: "November 5, 2021
Dear Ms. Patricia A. Robinson,
This letter refers to the
application filed by Webster
Financial Corporation,
Waterbury, Connecticut
(“Webster”), for the prior
approval of the Board of
Governors of the Federal
Reserve System (the “Board”),
to acquire Sterling Bancorp
(“Sterling”), and thereby
indirectly acquire
Sterling National Bank. Based
on staff’s review of the
current record, the following
additional information is
requested. Please
provide your responses to the
items listed below. Supporting
documentation should be
provided as appropriate.
1. You have
indicated that Sterling Bank
and Webster Bank do not have
any current plans to
consolidate, relocate or close
any branches before
consummation of, or
otherwise unrelated to,
the proposed transaction.
Confirm if that is still the
case and confirm that
any anticipated branch
closures, consolidations, or
relocations that may occur
following the merger
will be conducted in a manner
consistent with Webster Bank’s
branch closing policies
and procedures and the branch
closing requirements contained
in section 42 of the
Federal Deposit Insurance Act
(12 U.S.C. § 1831r-1). If not,
discuss why not. Your
response should include a copy
of any applicable policies and
procedures, to the
extent not already
provided.
In accordance
with the Federal
Reserve’s ex parte procedures,
provide a copy of the public
portion of your response
(together with any
attachments) directly to the
commenter.
cc: Inner City
Press/Fair Finance Watch"
Inner CIty Press
noted,
Among the
comments on the Community
Reinvestment Act submitted to
the Federal Reserve is one
from Webster Bank, arguing that
Health Savings Account
"deposits should not be
considered when determining
whether the requirement would
apply or when delineating such
assessment areas" and should
be excluded from the
definition of "retail domestic
deposits."Consequently, HSAs
should also be excluded
from Community
Development Financing Metric.
This is scam.
Also in the
U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York
on July 12, 2021 it emerged
that Sterling has been sued
for allowing the unauthorized
wiring to China and Singapore
of $12 million in funds from
NJ-based contractor Niram.
This is an adverse managerial
resources factor to be raised
to / acted on by the Federal
Reserve, including under the
new antitrust Executive Order.
Watch this site.
***
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