| Amid Attack on CRA
FirstSun HomeStreet Bid Hit on
Lending Disparities Now Charter
Switch
by
Matthew Russell Lee
SOUTH
BRONX,
May 8 – As US bank regulators
talk about working to increase
the fairness of the financial
system, and closely
scrutinizing mergers and the
spread of bad practices, banks
continue to assume they can
combine.
Before the
Capital One - Discover
proposal, and ABA lawsuit
against the Community
Reinvestment Act regulation,
there was FirstSun
Capital Bancorp of Denver and
Dallas saying it will merge
with Homestreet, Inc. and
Homestreet Bank of Seattle,
Washington.
On
February 23 Fair Finance Watch
with Inner City Press on the
FOIA filed a protest:
"FirstSun's flagship Sunflower
Bank, in Texas in 2022, made
694 mortgage loans to whites,
and only 41 to African
Americans. Meanwhile it denied
12 applications from African
Americans, and only 34 from
whites. This is
disparate, and more disparate
both than the aggregate in
Texas.
Nationwide in 2022, Sunflower
Bank made 3059 mortgage loans
to whites, and only 194 to
African Americans. Meanwhile
it denied 49 applications from
African Americans, and only
259 from whites.
For
the record, on managerial
resources and otherwise, note
that on September 27, 2023,
FirstSun Capital Bancorp, the
parent company of Sunflower
Bank, Guardian Mortgage and
First National 1870
(collectively, “Sunflower”),
filed a notice of data breach
with the Attorney General of
California... an unauthorized
party likely took advantage of
the flaw in the MOVEit
software and downloaded copies
of files [containing]
personally identifiable
information."
Now
FirstSun is simply changing
charters to try to get fast
approval: FirstSun Capital
Bancorp will switch to a Texas
state charter rather than a
national one as it continues
to pursue its acquisition of
HomeStreet, the bank announced
last week: “In our discussions
with the OCC in Washington, it
became obvious that we would
not gain near-term approval."
What a scam.
FFW and Inner City Press have
been deeply concerned about
the rush by the Federal
Reserve to rubber-stamp
mergers by redliners, money
launderers and predatory
lenders. This has been killing
the Community Reinvestment Act
and so a timely request public
hearings.
***
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