SDNY COURTHOUSE, Sept 7 –
EverBank and WaFd (Washington Federal) Bank announced a
reverse merger on Labor Day, proposing a combined bank in
FL, NY, AZ, CA, ID, NV, NM, OR, TX, UT and, of course,
Washington.
In that state, WaFd in 2025 made 65
mortgage loans to whites and only ONE to an African
American applicant. In Arizona it made 13 loans to whites,
NONE to African Americans.
And from WaFd's CRA Performance Evaluation
from the FDIC:
On Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, Arizona
MSA: "The relatively high level of community
development loans compensated for the poor geographic
distribution and very poor borrower profile performance in
this MSA... The distribution of borrowers reflects very
poor penetration among retail customers of different
income levels and business customers of different sizes.
This conclusion results from a distribution of home
mortgage borrowers that reflects very poor penetration
among retail customers of different income levels, and a
distribution of small business borrowers that reflects
poor penetration among business customers of different
sizes."
On moderate-income geographies;: "The
bank's level of lending in moderate-income geographies
lagged aggregate lenders as well as opportunities as
defined by the percentage of families considered
moderate-income in the assessment area, that performance
is considered very poor."
So why would this proposed merger be
approved?
The timing is worth pausing on: the Office
of the Comptroller of the Currency, which has
under-regulated both banks for years, now proposes to
further weaken the Community Reinvestment Act, as Inner
City Press and Fair Finance Watch have reported and
commented. There is an open comment period of the CRA
deform, which should be extended. There will be one on
EverBank - WdFd, natch.
