by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
FEDERAL COURT, Feb 9 – Home BancShares, whose Centennial Bank has a disparate lending record in all five states it it is, including an office in New York, as applied to the Federal Reserve to buy a bank in Tennessee, Mountain Commerce.
Fair Finance Watch has opposed it, in comments filed January 19 with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and the Federal Reserve Board which recently allowed a $7 billion mega-merger to proceed with no Fed review. From the comment:
Fair Finance Watch has been monitoring Home BancShares and its Centennial Bank and finds that in Arkansas in 2024 Centennial made 870 mortgage loans to whites while denying only 242 applications from whites, while making only 64 loans to African Americans and denying fully 48 applications from African Americans. This is disparate - and note Centennial's significant decrease in loans to African Americans in Arkansas, from 113 loans to African Americans in 2020 to only 64 in 2024. Now they want to go into Tennessee - FFW is filing opposition and requesting hearings.
Likewise in Florida in 2024 Centennial made 406 mortgage loans to whites while denying only 146 applications from whites, while making only 23 loans to African Americans and denying fully 27 applications from African Americans - that is, more than its loans to African Americans. This is extremely disparate - this application should be denied.
In Alabama in 2024 Centennial made 20 mortgage loans to whites while denying only 11 applications from whites, while making only ONE loan to an African American - extremely disparate.
In Texas in 2024 Centennial made 477 mortgage loans to whites while denying only 151 applications from whites, while making only 14 loans to African Americans and denying fully 12 applications from African Americans. This again is extremely disparate; the proposal should be denied to prevent these patterns from being imposed on Tennessee.
There are extensive consumer complaints against Home's Centennial Bank. Since the Federal Reserve Board now appears dismissive of complaint based on the platform on which they appear, here for the record is a sample complaint from the CFPB site...
On January 20 the St. Louis Fed's Senior Manager Mergers & Acquisitions emailed FFW: "Receipt confirmed."
Home BancShares responses emphasized that FFW (and Inner City Press) are "domiciled" in New York. And?
On Feb 9 the Fed asked Home BancShares "Page 2 of Bancshares' Y-3 states that Centennial Bank operates from "218 banking offices in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, New York, Tennessee, and Texas." Public records indicate that Centennial Bank operates 234 offices in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, New York, and Texas. a. Confirm whether Centennial Bank operates any banking offices in Tennessee. b. Confirm whether the 218 banking offices referred to in the application are full- service branches. c. Indicate whether Centennial Bank operates any limited service branches, loan production offices, or any other locations and, if so, where they are located. 3. Provide an organization chart reflecting the combined organization's consumer compliance, fair lending, and Community Reinvestment Act ("CRA") staff, and discuss whether any management or employees from Mountain Commerce Bank's consumer compliance, fair lending, and CRA staff would be retained at the combined organization."
Watch this site.
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