By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
SOUTH BRONX / SDNY, Feb 4 – The proposed acquisition of Webster Financial Corp. by Banco Santander raises troubling issues, Fair Finance Watch has found - including on First Brands.
In 2024 in New York State Webster made fully 324 mortgage loans to white applications with only 171 denials to whites - while it made only 43 loans to African Americans with fully 34 denials to African Americans.
Santander, meanwhile, is one of the few large banks given a Needs to Improve rating under the Community Reinvestment Act in the last decade.
On February 4 Inner City Press covered the arraigment of First Brands' Patrick James and Edward James for fraud. But questions arose about the rose of Santander: Santander’s exposure to companies owned by First Brands Group founder Patrick James has reportedly grown to $300 million. The increase was caused by James defaulting on a loan he took out to buy a French car parts group, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Wednesday (Nov. 19), citing unnamed sources. The loan added to the amounts James already owed Santander for receivables financing and for a facility with First Brands units in Mexico and Brazil. We aim to have more on this.
Focusing for now on Webster, Fair Finance Watch (with Inner City Press on the FOIA) challenged its deal with Sterling in 2021.
On June 25, 2021 the Fed asked the banks a series of questions, below and full letter on Patreon here
Inner City Press reported that on November 5, it was sent a copy of the Federal Reserve's additional letter to Webster and its (ex-Fed) outside counsel: "November 5, 2021 Dear Ms. Patricia A. Robinson, This letter refers to the application filed by Webster Financial Corporation, Waterbury, Connecticut (“Webster”), for the prior approval of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the “Board”), to acquire Sterling Bancorp (“Sterling”), and thereby indirectly acquire Sterling National Bank. Based on staff’s review of the current record, the following additional information is requested. Please provide your responses to the items listed below. Supporting documentation should be provided as appropriate.
1. You have indicated that Sterling Bank and Webster Bank do not have any current plans to consolidate, relocate or close any branches before consummation of, or otherwise unrelated to, the proposed transaction. Confirm if that is still the case and confirm that any anticipated branch closures, consolidations, or relocations that may occur following the merger will be conducted in a manner consistent with Webster Bank’s branch closing policies and procedures and the branch closing requirements contained in section 42 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. § 1831r-1). If not, discuss why not. Your response should include a copy of any applicable policies and procedures, to the extent not already provided.
In accordance with the Federal Reserve’s ex parte procedures, provide a copy of the public portion of your response (together with any attachments) directly to the commenter.
cc: Inner City Press/Fair Finance Watch"
Inner CIty Press noted,
Among the comments on the Community Reinvestment Act submitted to the Federal Reserve is one from Webster Bank, arguing that Health Savings Account "deposits should not be considered when determining whether the requirement would apply or when delineating such assessment areas" and should be excluded from the definition of "retail domestic deposits."Consequently, HSAs should also be excluded from Community Development Financing Metric.
This is scam.
Also in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on July 12, 2021 it emerged that Sterling has been sued for allowing the unauthorized wiring to China and Singapore of $12 million in funds from NJ-based contractor Niram. This is an adverse managerial resources factor to be raised to / acted on by the Federal Reserve, including under the new antitrust Executive Order. Watch this site.
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