FEDERAL COURTHOUSE, June 17 – The
fintech Mercury has put up its signs on a flashy low-rise
building on the corner of Delancey and Christie Street on
NYC's Lower East Side. In small print it discloses that
Mercury is not a bank, but uses Column Bank
N.A.
So who does the Community
Reinvestment Act compliance for this set-up?
Inner City Press / Fair
Finance Watch decided to look into it. There is much
misleading on CRA, allowed by the OCC.
On June 24 in Congress, Anchorage
Digital Bank, N.A. claimed "We
are regulated on the same footing as any other bank in the OCC’s
portfolio."
Really? No CRA...
Column's website does not even mention the CRA, unlike
nearly every bank. Its regulator the Office of the
Comptroller of the Currency has essentially stopped
enforcing CRA for the past 18 months, intent on handing
out new bank charter to crypto firms.
Fair Finance Watch has commented to
the OCC on those charters and the lack of CRA, and on the
OCC's decision to eliminate its Weekly Bulletin providing
public notice of applications, and many break-downs of its
replacement.
Now on June 17, while still not responding in
any way to FFW's petition on Column NA, the OCC has put
out a statement that "if the OCC denies a filing, the OCC
must notify the filer in writing of the reasons for the
denial... it is important that the public understand how
filings are decided under applicable laws, regulations,
and policy." But no explantion of approvals or how
comments are rebutted, if the OCC thinks they are.
Fifth Third, in the midst of
closing the 76 branches Inner City Press made the Federal
Reserve disclose under FOIA while the Fed was rubber
stamping 5/3's Comerica acquisition, had a deal with Brex,
which also uses Column Bank, N.A. (and artificial
intelligence, without disclosure).
So how to address this Column Bank NA
fintech CRA loophole? Fair Finance Watch has already
written to the OCC, cc-ing the FDIC. As of June 24, not
even an acknowledgment of receipt from the OCC, which has
shut down its Community Affairs email box. But Comptroller
Gould got it.
The beginning of action is information. So
here are a few paragraphs, the beginning of a new project:
