By Matthew R. Lee
NEW YORK, July 24 -- Alongside the debate on the economy at the national level, amid President Barack Obama speeches and reports he's considering Larry Summers to replace Ben Bernanke atop the Federal Reserve, a sample bank earnings conference call Wednesday told another story.
John Kanas of BankUnited fielded questions from Deutsche Bank, Wells Fargo, Credit Suisse and Inner City Press. He bragged of construction cranes on Brickell Avenue in Miami, and of his bank's four branches in Manhattan and one in Suffolk County on Long Island.
Inner City Press asked if BankUnited's chosen assessment area for the Community Reinvestment Act, to serve low and moderate income people, was only affluent sections of Manhattan and Suffolk County, and for more detail on any plans to open branches in New York City's "outer boroughs" including The Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn.
Kanas at first asked for clarification -- Inner City Press has questioned him before on these topics, when he led North Fork Bank then at Capital One -- then said that the Suffolk branch is right near the Nassau County line.
Shouldn't BankUnited's CRA assessment area then include Nassau? And how can the lowest income sections of New York City be excluded?
This is a question being asked not only in New York, but also through NCRC by a coalition of groups in Florida.
Earlier in the call, before taking questions, Kanas had bragged that many of "his" deposits came from previous relationships in the New York market. Since North Fork bought Northside Savings Bank in The Bronx, Inner City Press on Wednesday asked if any of BankUnited's deposits come from The Bronx. Kanas said no, they are Manhattan. But is that a fact?
Until earlier this month, Inner City Press used and cited SNL Financial in stories such as these. A request to continue, and specifically about BankUnited, is pending before Christina M. Twomey of SNL's Public Relations. We hope to have more on this - and on Summers and the Fed. Watch this site.
