by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
SOUTH BRONX/Federal Court, June 9 – A proposed merger by Planters Bank & Trust in Mississippi and Tennessee with Cross Keys Bank in Louisiana and Texas has brought into focus Planters' disparate lending.
On June 9 Fair Finance Watch, reviewing Home Mortgage Disclosure Act patterns nationwide, filed a timely Community Reinvestment Act protest with the FDIC:
The applicant Planters Bank & Trust Company in 2023 in Mississippi had a denial rate for the mortgage loan applications of African Americans more than twice as high as for white applicants. For whites it originated 11.53 loans for every denial to whites; for African Americans it originated only 4.59 loans for every denial.
Planters Bank & Trust Company in 2023 in Louisiana, in which it proposes now to further grow, made three loans to whites with no denials to whites; one to an African American applicant with also denying an African Americans' application.
Planters Bank & Trust Company in 2023 in Tennessee originated eight mortgage loans to whites and NONE to African Americans.
These practices should not be allowed to expand, and should not be introduced into Texas. This merger and expansion proposal should be denied.
As ConnectOne Bank and First National Bank of Long Island congratulated themselves on a merger proposal. Inner City Press FOIA-ed the required applications for regulatory approval.
On November 25 the FDIC wrote to ConnectOne Bank Frank S. Sorrentino, III – Chairman and CEO that Fair Finance Watch "raises issues regarding both bank’s records of lending to African American persons in New York and nationwide, respectively."
In May 2025 the FDIC imposed a CRA condition on ConnectOne, after Fair Finance Watch's challenge - letter with condition on Inner City Press' DocumentCloud here.
And on Planters Bank & Trust?
Watch this site
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