by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
NASHVILLE, Sept 18 – Synovus Bank, with a track record of disparate lending and consumer complaints, now proposes to cash out and merge with Nashville-based Pinnacle.
But Pinnacle has its own disparities, and is under-regulated by the Tennessee Commissioner of Financial Institutions, who refuses to provide any documents to anyone but Tennessee "citizens" (not even those *in* Tennessee).
So Fair Finance Watch filed Community Reinvestment Act challenges with the Federal Reserve and the Georgia regulator (both have confirmed receipt and the Fed has sent to Pinnacle) as well as the recalcitrant Tennessee regulator, who refuses to give records or even confirm receipt of the challenge. Pinnacle for now seems to think it has Tennessee in the palm of its hand, lock stock and barrel, regulator and media. But then there's Inner City Press, and other states...
On September 15 the FRB of Atlanta sent Fair Finance Watch a list of question sent to Pinnacle and Synovus including "an analysis of CRA and fair lending impacts and the potential effect on the community and customers served by the branch, particularly distressed or underserved nonmetropolitan middle- income census tracts, majority-minority census tracts, LMI census tracts, and rural areas;" and "The Application identifies that The Vanguard Group, Inc., BlackRock, Inc., and FMR, LLC, would each hold more than 5 percent of the combined organization’s common stock. Explain in further detail why, as the Application represents, “[n]one of these parties would trigger any presumption of control” - full letter on Inner City Press' DocumentCloud here
Dear Chair Powell and others in the FRS:
... Fair Finance Watch has long been concerned about Synovus, as the Federal Reserve memorialized, noting "disparities in denial rates and home mortgage originations to African Americans and/or Hispanics, as compared to whites, in certain markets. The commenter also noted a complaint filed with the CFPB against Synovus Bank relating to collecting on a debt allegedly not owed."
Fair Finance Watch has reviewed the just-released 2024 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data of Synovus and finds that while it made 3.18 loans to whites for each denial to whites, it made only 1.7 loans to African Americans for each denial to African Americans.
Pinnacle is of even greater concern. In Virginia, where Pinnacle received a Low Satisfactory on the Lending Test in its most recently (May 2023) CRA performance evaluation, in 2024 it made 133 mortgage loans to whites, with 19 denials, but only 13 loans to African Americans, with fully eight denials.
In Alabama, where Pinnacle also received a Low Satisfactory on the Lending Test, in 2024 Pinnacle made 106 mortgage loans to whites, with 16 denials, but only 56 loans to African Americans, with fully nine denials.
In North Carolina, where Pinnacle also received a Low Satisfactory on the Lending Test, in 2024 Pinnacle made 653 mortgage loans to whites, with 178 denials, but only 202 loans to African Americans, with fully 82 denials.
Even in Tennessee, which conceals its records, Pinnacle was rated Low Satisfactory on the Lending Test in Knoxville and Chattanooga. Not in the exam:
In Florida in 2024 Pinnacle made 38 mortgage loans to whites, with 11 denials, but only five loans to African Americans, with fully NINE denials.
In Kentucky in 2024 Pinnacle made eleven mortgage loans to whites, with seven denials, but NO loans to African Americans. This application should not be approved; particularly in light of the disparities, public evidentiary hearings are needed.
Watch this site.
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