| OCC
Withholds US
Bank CEO
Letter It Used
To Approve
Union Bank
Merger,
Corporate
Capture
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
book
SOUTH BRONX NYC,
Feb 10 –
How
untransparent
and pro-bank
are today's
regulators,
including the
Office of the
Comptroller of
the Currency?
Today's
example is the
OCC's denial
in full of
Inner City
Press' Freedom
of Information
Act request
about its
approval of
U.S. Bank's
application to
acquire Union
Bank, which
Fair Finance
Watch and
others
challenged
under the
Community
Reinvestment
Act.
Inner
City Press
submitted the
request in
November 2022,
and
immediately
clarified and
narrowed the
request after
an OCC
inquiry.
Now
on February
10, 2023, the
OCC responds -
and withholds
16 pages in
full,
providing no
information at
all. This on
the day the
OCC holds a
symposium
about mergers
- with
speakers from
corporate law
firms.
Here's
from the OCC's
letter:
"You
requested the
OCC's U.S.
Bank - Union
Bank merger
approval
order,
including any
conditions and
any and all
records
related to the
basis for the
conditions,
and approval.
By PAL message
dated December
7, 2022, you
clarified that
you are
seeking the
October 10,
2022 letter
from Andrew
Cecere to OCC
as referenced
in the
approval order
and records
related or
directly
referenced in
the October
10, 2022
letter (Date
Range for
Record Search:
From
01/01/2022 To
11/23/2022).
By PAL message
dated December
7, 2022, we
provided you a
link to the
OCC's approval
order on OCC's
website.
Your
request for
the October
10, 2022
letter from
Andrew Cecere
and records
related or
directly
referenced in
the October
10, 2022 is
denied.
We
have withheld
16 pages by
the authority
of U.S.C.
552(b)(4) and
12 C.F.R.
4.12(b)(4),
trade secrets
and commercial
or financial
information
obtained from
a person and
privileged or
confidential;
and 5 U.S.C.
552 (b)(8) and
12 C.F.R.
4.12(b)(8),
relating to
records
contained in
or related to
examination,
operating, or
condition
reports
prepared by,
on behalf of,
or for the use
of an agency
responsible
for the
regulation or
supervision of
financial
institutions.
We have
reviewed the
information
protected by
the cited
exemption(s)
under a
presumption of
openness but
have
determined
that it is
reasonably
foreseeable
that the
disclosure of
the
information
would harm an
interest
protected by
the applicable
exemption(s).
And
what is that
interest?
Watch this
site.
***
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