By Matthew R. Lee, Video, FOIA fee denial
SOUTH BRONX, SDNY, Oct 5 – With Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting moving to undermine the US Community Reinvestment Act, on August 21 he engaged in a cynical tour of Jamaica, Queens with Rep. Gregory Meeks while his OCC was also refusing to consider a CRA protest filed less than 30 days after People's Bank's application was filed and that, later, available. See below.
Now on October 5, 2019, on Otting's OCC website the most recently Weekly Bulletin of pending mergers, each with a 30 day comment periods is dated August 17. That is to say, all of the merger of which Otting's OCC is providing public have comment period which are closed. Those with open comment periods are not disclosed. This is criminal.
On September 3, Otting rang up another death knell to accountability and judicial review, getting the CSBS' lawsuit about his sure to be ghoulish fintech charter dismissed as not ripe. A D.C. federal judge has again shot down a lawsuit that seeks to block the federal government from granting specialized national bank charters to fintech firms, saying the Conference of State Bank Supervisors is still jumping the gun by suing over a charter that no one has even applied for. In a ruling Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich dismissed because the "claims remain unripe.” This is four months after U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero of the Southern District of New York allowed the New York Department of Financial Services to proceed with its challenge to the fintech charter. In her ruling on Tuesday, Judge Friedrich said she “respectfully” disagrees with Judge Marrero’s decision to the extent it conflicts with either of her dismissal decisions in the CSBS cases. Inner City Press goes with the SDNY. In DC the OCC is represented in-house by Jonathan V. Gould, Bao Nguyen, Gregory F. Taylor, Hannah Hicks, Peter C. Koch, Ashley W. Walker, Gabriel A. Hindin and Michael K. Morelli -- some of these are involved in trying to exempt the OCC from FOIA by denying fee waivers, even for merger applications. Otting is destroying the OCC, and wants to destroy the CRA.
Mere hours after refusing to consider an actual CRA comment, Otting issued this: "Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting today participated in a tour of New York neighborhoods to see firsthand the success of Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) activity and discuss how CRA regulations can promote more lending, investment, and services, where they are needed most. 'Here in New York, we saw great examples of community and bank partnerships to conduct CRA activity that helps meet important needs of underserved neighborhoods,' Comptroller Otting said following the tour. 'We also discussed challenges communities, advocates, and bankers face in lending, investing, and providing services that can be addressed in part by modernizing CRA regulations.'" This is fraud.
In June 2019 Otting denied access to documents about whom he meets with which Inner City Press requested back in January 2019. This while he had made the OCC start rejecting timely CRA comments on mergers and on Fifth Third's lateral move to the less regulated OCC charter, asserting that he has unfettered discretion to consider such comments.
Now it gets worse - Otting is citing a 30 day comment period as a basis to refuse to consider comments even when by his own OCC's letter it was timely, less than thirty said. Inner City Press / Fair Finance Watch was sent this by the OCC on August 21: "People’s United Bank, National Association, Bridgeport, Connecticut filed its Application with the CCC on July 18, 2019, and published its first public notice of the application on July 17, 2019. The 30-day public comment period ended on August 15, 2019. The 0CC made information concerning the application publicly available in the July 20, 2019 Weekly Bulletin and, on July 23, 2019, posted the public portion of the application to the OCC’s Freedom of Information Act Electronic Reading Room. Your comment was submitted on August l6, following the close of the comment period on August 1 As a result, the comment was not timely and the OCC will not consider this comment in its review of the pending application." Do the math. Then impeach Otting.
On August 15-16, Inner City Press / Fair Finance Watch, less than 30 days after the application was filed, submitted this to the OCC including its Barry Wides in DC: "August 15-16, 2019
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency Northeastern District Office Deputy Comptroller, Kristin Kiefer Acting Director for District Licensing, Marva V. Cummings 340 Madison Avenue, Fifth Floor New York, NY 10173-0002 and Barry Wides, DC
Re: Timely Initial Comment on Application of People's United Bank to acquire United Bank Dear Deputy Comptroller Kiefer, Ms. Cummings, Mr. Wides and others in the OCC:
This is a timely first comment opposing and requesting an extension of the OCC's public comment period on the Application by People's United Bank to acquire United Bank. The OCC states that "when a public notice is published, the public has 30 days to submit a written comment to the OCC." See here. This comment is timely. While the "public" notice in the Hartford Courant is behind paywall - we are noting that for the record, to be acted on by the OCC like its now routine late updating of its online Weekly Bulletins - dispositively, the OCC web site says "Filing Status: Action Date Receipt 2019-07-18." July 18 plus 30 days is August 17. Even if one ignores the filing date for comment period start date, July 17, plus 30 days is August 16. This comment is timely.
Add to the above, for the record, that the OCC under Comptroller Otting has reversed years of OCC precedent and refused FOIA fee waivers for copies of the application to comment on. This comment is timely,and the lawless policy reversal(s) must be reversed.
People's United is getting worse and worse. In the the New York City MSA in 2017, the most recent year for which HMDA data is publicly available - the comment period should be extended until the delayed 2018 data is available - People's United made 83 home purchase loans to whites, only seven to Latinos and only FOUR to African Americans. Its denial rate for African Americans was 2.81 times higher than for whites - worse than its peers, by far. This comment is timely, an evidentiary hearing is needed; on the current record the application should be denied. For refinance loans in the New York City MSA in 2017, People's United made 85 loans to whites, only five to Latinos and only six to African Americans. This is systematic redlining; this proposed acquisition could not legitimately be approved and People's United should be referred for prosecution for redlining by the Department of Justice and CFPB. People's United record is hardly sufficient in the Hartford MSA where it now proposes to acquire United Bank. In 2017 in the Hartford MSA, People's United made 139 home purchase loans to whites and only 10 to African Americans and only five to Latinos. Its denial rate for African Americans was a whopping 4.71 times higher than for whites - worse than its peers, by far. Again, this is systematic redlining; this proposed acquisition could not legitimately be approved and People's United should be referred for prosecution for redlining by the Department of Justice and CFPB.
See also, for the record, "People’s United Bank is growing, but at the expense of branches and possibly jobs. The Bridgeport-based subsidiary of People’s United Financial is looking to acquire the parent company to United Bank in Hartford for roughly $759 million by the end of the year, and executives have confirmed that the merger would result in cuts. “There is a lot of overlap, and we’ve done quite a bit of homework and due diligence already, but we will finish that work with the United (Bank) team and we will make decisions about which will close,” People’s United CEO Jack Barnes said. In this context, the comment period should be extended so that public evidentiary hearings can be held, and the application should be denied." Watch this site.
Now in a promotional brochure about his attack on CRA, Otting has misstated what the CRA statute says, and significantly so. His brochure said that the law requires the regulators to "consider the CRA RATING in connection with certain licensing applications." Uploaded by Inner City Press on Scribd here.
In fact, the process is that CRA issues are considered on merger and charter conversion and other applications, not just ratings. That is a safe harbor, something repeatedly considered, fought off and rejected. Now fraudulent comment generator Otting is simply changing the law. We'll have more on this.
