by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
SDNY/SOUTH BRONX, Dec 8 – As US bank regulators loosen rules - including the FDIC moving to eliminate public comment altogether on branch expansion applications - now more big banks are moving to get bigger.
And one is moving without even applying to the Federal Reserve Board, see below.
So on December 8 Fair Finance Watch filed with the Fed - in advance - against Fulton Financial's newest merger proposal:
This concerns the proposal by Fulton Financial to acquire and merge with Blue Foundry Bancorp.
This is opposition at the earliest possible time. In light of a recent proposal in which only the OCC is considering a multi-billion merger, we are submitting this to the FRB as soon as possible. Please immediate inform FFW if Fulton is applying to the FRS, and consider this comment on any and all Fulton applications.
Fulton Bank NA in Delaware in 2024 made 199 mortgage loans to whites, and only 24 to African Americans. Meanwhile it denied five applications from African Americans, and only 68 from whites. This is disparate.
Fulton Bank NA in Pennsylvania in 2024 made 2381 mortgage loans to whites, and only 181 to African Americans. Meanwhile it denied 111 applications from African Americans, and only 616 from whites.
Fulton Bank NA in Maryland in 2024 made 373mortgage loans to whites, and only 132 to African Americans. Meanwhile it denied 90 applications from African Americans, and only 83 from whites.
Fulton Bank NA in New Jersey in 2024 made 805 mortgage loans to whites, and only 33 to African Americans. Meanwhile it denied 44 applications from African Americans, and only 359 from whites.
Fulton Bank NA in Virginia in 2024 made 500 mortgage loans to whites, and only 79 to African Americans. Meanwhile it denied 35 applications from African Americans, and only 77 from whites.
Now Fulton wants to buy a "money-losing" bank in New Jersey, and take its branch closing ways there - Fulton has closed many branches - here in the past year and a half, three dozen closings, etc.
On October 27, Huntington announced it would apply to buy Cadence Bank.
But as of December 7, it has yet to apply to the Federal Reserve. Instead, since Cadence cynically dissolved its holding company after its lending discrimination settlement, it has applied only to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The OCC, unlike much smaller crypto applications, has not put Huntington's application on the OCC website.
On December 8, "'There'll be more layoffs,' CEO Stephen Steinour [said] in an interview. "We want to be transparent. So right away we communicate, there are going to be impacts'... The Cadence purchase will create a bank with assets of $276 billion, pushing Huntington into a regulatory classification known as Category 3 that imposes more stringent rules, including for capital and liquidity." But no Fed consideration of entering Category 3?
Inner City Press, which has opposed the FDIC's moves to close itself to public scrutiny - American Banker op-ed here - will be submitting FOIA requests on all this. The FDIC said it will eliminate public notices because it does not receive enough public comments. That is now changing. Watch this site.
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