By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Story
BBC - Guardian UK - Honduras - ESPN
FEDERAL COURT / S Bronx, Feb 12 – Whether or not the U.S. Community Reinvestment Act will be again enforced until the now year-old Administration and its regulators remains an open question.
On February 12 Fair Finance Watch with Inner City Press on the FOIA filed comments with the Office of the Comproller of the Currency against Community Bank N.A.'s application to acquire Elmira Savings Bank:
The applicant Community Bank National Association in 2020 in New York State based on its disparate marketing made 4329 mortgage loans to whites, with 871 denials to whites -- while making only TWENTY SEVEN loans to African Americans, with five denials. This is far out of keeping with the demographics, and others lenders, in NYS - this is outrageous. Beyond its lending disparities, Community Bank N.A. is a branch closer, see e.g., "Community Bank closing four locations," https://www.mytwintiers.com/news-cat/local/community-bank-closing-four-locations/, listing CBNA's closure of branches in Hornell at 7279 Seneca Rd., Bath Plaza branch located at 201 Bath and Hammondsport Railroad, the Canaseraga branch located at 37 Main St., and the Wellsville branch at 4196 Bolivar Road. There is no public benefit to this proposal. FFW and Inner City Press have been deeply concerned about the rush by the OCC's penchant to rubberstamp mergers by redliners, particularly during the pandemic. We timely request public hearings."
This came after this exchange:
"Erik Zwick: What was the driver of the decision to move the closing of Elmira to 2Q?
Mark Tryniski: I don't know if it's so much a decision on our part, it's just on expectations around where we see the trend of the regulatory approval process going. So we decided to push it off two months further out just based on the progress and the dialogue with the regulators. I mean, there's nothing of note or concern. I think it's just right now with the administration and the pending appointments of some of the agency leadership and the - I'll call it, the interest of all of the regulatory agencies on every single transaction, even those who have a, let's call it, tangential involvement, it's a lot more [indiscernible] slow everyone out there, that's just the trend right now. So we just decided to push it out a couple of months to be sure.
Erik Zwick: Got it. That makes sense."
No, it only makes sense to insiders.
In March, after the comment above, the comment period on Community Bank N.A. Elmira application was extended through April 8. Watch this site.
Inner City Press (and Fair Finance Watch, on the HMDA) will have more to say about this. Watch this site.
***
Your support means a lot. As little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you access to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here to become a patron.
