Fair Finance Watch
is a Non-Governmental Organization
Focused on the Fairness of the Financial
Services Industries - Banking, Insurance
and Securities - to Local Communities,
Urban and Rural, North and (Global)
South, including under Human
Rights
Laws
FFW researches, documents and advocates
around financial firms' activities, and
how they affect local communities. FFW
files its findings with tribunals,
regulatory agencies, and elsewhere,
including on this
Web site.
Deutsche
Bank To Settle
Suit Citing
Epstein and
FBME Proposes
to Pay $26M in
SDNY
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Sept 26 –
Deutsche Bank was sued
for its lax anti-money
laundering and Know Your
Customer controls, and
for doing business with,
among others,
scandal-plagued FBME
Bank and Danske Estonia,
and... Jeffrey Epstein.
On
September 23, 2022, a
proposed settlement was
filed with U.S. District
Court for the Southern
District of New York
Judge Jed S. Rakoffo.
Inner City Press found
it in the SDNY docket
and will report on its
review by Judge
Rakoff.
Deutsche Bank proposes
to pay $26,250,000 to
settle the claims.
The memo of
law, at 9, proposes that
"by entering into the
Stipulation, the
Defendants do not admit
liability and continue
to deny that they
engaged in any
misconduct or violated
the law." But where is
the US Federal Reserve,
if not the German
regulators who missed
Wirecard?
And why are
prosecutors working WITH
Deutsche Bank, on
anything? This case is
Karimi v. Deutsche Bank
Aktiengesellschaft, et
al., 22-cv-2854 (Rakoff)
***
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[Update
- after FFW's
protest, the
application
below was
withdrawn]
February 28,
2022
First
Internet Bank
Hit By 1st CRA
Protest of
2022 Requested
Withdrawal But
Noncompliant
FEDERAL
COURT / S Bronx, Feb 22
– Whether or not the
U.S. Community
Reinvestment Act will be
again enforced until the
new Administration and
its regulators remains
an open question.
As
the first CRA challenge
of 2022, Fair Finance
Watch with Inner City
Press on the FOIA filed
comments with the
Federal Reserve against
First Internet Bank,
below.
On
January 19, First
Internet Bank wrote to
say that anything for
which it requested
confidential treatment
MUST be withheld. For
First Internet Bank,
Larry Tomlin of
SmithAmundsen of
Indianapolis tells Inner
City Press and the
regulators and DOJ that
Fair Finance Watch
should withdraw its
comments. Really? Inner
City Press immediately
filed a new and expanded
FOIA request.
On February
22, First Internet - the
bank that said Inner
City Press' comment
against it should be
withdrawn - had to
respond to this
question: "5. According
to First Internet Bank
of Indiana's CRA
Performance Evaluation,
dated April 6, 2021, the
bank received ratings of
"Needs to Improve" and
"Substantial
Noncompliance" in each
year (2018, 2019, and
2020) on Tests 6 ("Small
Business Lending to
Borrowers with Revenues
of $1 million or less")
and 9 ("Community
Development Lending").
Provide information on
how the bank has
improved performance on
these two metrics since
2020. Additionally,
provide information on
how the bank plans to
improve these metrics
following the merger
with First Century
Bank."
Its response?
"The Bank continues to
focus on and improve its
CRA performance across the
board." No, disparate.
January
31, 2022
CommunityBank
of Texas After
Money
Laundering
Case Hit by
Protest by
Fair Finance
Watch
FEDERAL
COURT / S Bronx, Jan 26
– Whether or not the
U.S. Community
Reinvestment Act will be
again enforced until the
new Administration and
its regulators remains
an open question. The
same is the case about
money laundering
Now as the fourth CRA
challenge of 2022, Fair
Finance Watch with Inner
City Press on the FOIA
has filed comments with
the Federal Reserve
against CommunityBank of
Texas, fresh off a money
laundering / Bank
Secrecy Act settlement,
with a disparate record:
"This is a timely first
comment on, the
Applications of CBTX,
Inc., Beaumont, Texas;
to merge with Allegiance
Bancshares, Inc., and
thereby indirectly
acquire Allegiance Bank,
both of Houston, Texas.
As an initial matter,
this is a request that
the FRS immediately send
by email to Inner City
Press all non-exempt
portions of the
applications / notices
for which the Applicants
have requested
confidential treatment.
Fair Finance Watch has
been tracking both
banks, and has found
their lending patterns
troubling.
In Texas in 2020, CBTX's
CommunityBank made 65
mortgage loans to whites
with 54 denials.
Meanwhile to African
Americans it made only
THREE loans, while
denying fully ten
applications. A
referring should be made
to the DOJ for fair
lending
violations.
In Texas in 2020,
Alliance Bank made 257
mortgage loans to whites
with 38 denials.
Meanwhile to African
Americans it made only
SIX loans, while denying
fully seven
applications. Again, a
referring should be made
to the DOJ for fair
lending
violations.
Public evidentiary
hearings are needed -
especially because, and
specifically on,
CommunityBank's
violations of the Bank
Secrecy Act:
"WASHINGTON—The Office
of the Comptroller of
the Currency (OCC) today
announced a $1 million
civil money penalty
against CommunityBank of
Texas, N.A., Beaumont,
Texas, for violations of
the OCC’s Bank Secrecy
Act regulations.
The OCC found that
CommunityBank of Texas
failed to adopt and
implement a Bank Secrecy
Act/Anti-Money
Laundering system of
internal controls to
assure ongoing
compliance with the Bank
Secrecy Act and its
implementing
regulations. Such
deficiencies resulted in
CommunityBank’s failure
to timely file complete
suspicious activity
reports for
approximately $100
million of suspicious
activity. The
OCC’s civil money
penalty is separate
from, but coordinated
with, the settlement
between CommunityBank
and the Financial Crimes
Enforcement Network
(FinCEN), which is also
being announced
today."
FFW and Inner City Press
have been deeply
concerned about the rush
by the Federal Reserve's
to rubber-stamp mergers
by redliners, money
launderers and predatory
lenders. This has been
killing the Community
Reinvestment Act and we
timely request public
hearings. The comment
period should be
extended; evidentiary
hearings should be held;
and on the current
record, the application
should not be approved."
January
31, 2022
Inner
City Press /
Fair Finance
Watch challenged
Berkshire
Bank's
takeover, and
the Fed has
asked:
"Provide
a list of
organizations
and community
groups, if
any, with
which
Berkshire Bank
has engaged
since 2020 to
help reach
African
American
borrowers in
New York. In
your response,
please provide
detailed
information
about the
partnerships
that Berkshire
Bank engaged
in with these
organizations
and community
groups since
2020. 8.
Provide
information
about
Berkshire
Bank’s efforts
to reach
African
American
borrowers in
New York,
including
specialized
products and
marketing
campaigns,
since 2020 (if
any). 9.
Berkshire Bank
received a
“Needs to
Improve”
rating in the
New York state
assessment
area during
its May 7,
2019, CRA
Performance
Evaluation.
Describe
strategies, if
any, that
Berkshire Bank
has
implemented
since 2019 to
improve its
performance in
the New York
state
assessment
area."
Watch this
site.
January
24, 2022
Fair
Finance Watch
with Inner
City Press on
the FOIA this
week filed a
CRA challenge
to
the
Applications
of Alerus
Financial
Corporation to
merge with MPB
BHC, Inc., and
thereby
indirectly
acquire Metro
Phoenix Bank,
and related
applications.
Fair
Finance Watch
has been
tracking
Alerus Bank
NA, and has
found its
lending
patterns
troubling.
Alerus Bank NA
in 2020 based
on its
disparate
marketing made
5,041 mortgage
loans to
whites, with
only 79
denials to
whites --
while making
only 105 loans
to African
Americans, and
denying six
applications
from African
Americans.
This is
outrageous.
This
application
should be
denied, and a
referral made
to the Justice
Department, as
the Fed did
far too late
on Cadence
Bank, whose
lesser
disparities
Inner City
Press
similarly
raised to the
Fed.
Public
evidentiary
hearings are
needed -
including on
this timely
entered into
the record: a
former
employee of
KPC
Healthcare,
filed a class
action
complaint on
June 1, 2020,
alleging that,
among other
things, (i) in
approving the
Transaction,
Alerus
Financial,
N.A. (Alerus),
the Trustee of
the KPC ESOP,
caused the KPC
ESOP to pay
more than fair
market value
for KPC
Healthcare’s
stock... See,
Class Action
Complaint,
Gamino v. KPC
Healthcare
Holdings,
Inc., No.
5:20-cv-01126-SB-SHK
(C.D. Cal.
June 1, 2020),
ECF No. 1.
January
17, 2022
Fair Finance
Watch with
Inner City
Press on the
FOIA this week
filed a CRA
challenge to
the
Applications
of Home Bank
N.A. to
acquire Texan
Bank:
"Dear
Director for
Southern
District
Licencing and
others at the
OCC:
This is a
request for a
full copy of,
and a timely
first comment
on, the
Applications
of Home Bank
N.A. to
acquire Texan
Bank.
Fair
Finance Watch
has been
tracking Home
Bank, N.A. and
is concerned
by its
disparate
lending. This
proposal would
impose it on
new
communities in
Houston,
Texas. Home
Bank NA in
Louisiana in
2020 based on
its disparate
marketing made
616 mortgage
loans to
whites, with
48 denials to
whites --
while making
only 53 loans
to African
Americans, and
denying fully
11
applications
from African
Americans.
This is far
out of keeping
with the
demographics,
and other
lenders, in
Louisiana -
this is
outrageous.
This
application
should be
denied, and a
referral made
to the Justice
Department, as
the Federal
Reserve did
far too late
on Cadence
Bank, whose
lesser
disparities
Inner City
Press
similarly
raised to the
Fed.
It
is significant
that this
application is
stuck at the
end of the
Weekly
Bulletin:
"ADDENDUM
SECTION: This
Application
was omitted
from a prior
Weekly
Bulletin."
This militates
for the
requested
extension of
the public
comment
period, and an
inquiry /
explanation.
The comment
period should
be extended;
evidentiary
hearings
should be
held; and on
the current
record, the
application
should not be
approved.
January 10,
2022
Fair
Finance Watch
with Inner
City Press on
the FOIA has
filed a 2d CRA
challenge of
2022, to the
Fed (so far)
on the
Applications
of TBB
Investments
LLC and TBB
Intermediate
LLC to become
bank holding
companies by
acquiring
Berkshire
Bancorp, Inc
and related
applications.
Berkshire
Bank in 2020
in New York
State based on
its disparate
marketing made
335 mortgage
loans to
whites, with
only 129
denials to
whites --
while making
only TWO loans
to African
Americans, and
denying three
applications
from African
Americans.
This is
outrageous.
This
application
should be
denied, and a
referral made
to the Justice
Department...
See also the
conditions
imposed by the
FDIC after
Fair Finance
Watch comments
to the FDIC on
the sale of
Berkshire
branches.
Public
evidentiary
hearings are
needed -
including on
this timely
entered into
the record:
Reclusive
landlord Moses
Marx resigns
as Berkshire
chairman, seehere.
January
3, 2022
First
Internet Bank
Georgia Bid
Hit By 1st CRA
Protest of
2022 by Fair
Finance Watch
FEDERAL
COURT / S Bronx, Jan 2 –
Whether or not the U.S.
Community Reinvestment
Act will be again
enforced until the new
Administration and its
regulators remains an
open question.
Now as the first CRA
challenge of 2022, Fair
Finance Watch with Inner
City Press on the FOIA
has filed comments with
the Federal Reserve
against First Internet
Bank: "This is a request
for a full copy of, and
a timely first comment
on, the Applications of
First Internet Bancorp
to acquire First Century
Bancorp and First
Century Bank, N.A.,
Commerce, Georgia.
Fair
Finance Watch has been
tracking First Internet
Bank, and has found its
lending patterns
troubling. First
Internet Bank in 2020
based on its disparate
marketing made 2114
mortgage loans to
whites, with only 178
denials to whites --
while making only 66
loans to African
Americans, and denying
21 applications from
African Americans. FIB
essential denies African
Americans three times
more frequently than
whites - worse that the
rest of the industry -
and makes a far smaller
percentage of its loans
to African Americans
than other banks,
particularly those based
in Indiana (or
Georgia).
This
application should be
denied, and a referral
made to the Justice
Department, as the Fed
did far too late on
Cadence Bank, whose
lesser disparities Inner
City Press similarly
raised to the
Fed.
Public evidentiary
hearings are needed -
including on First
Internet Bank's "tax
product lending."
And on
this, timely entered
into the record:
"07/31/2019 Gave
them all my personal
info for a mortgage loan
and received no call
back tried to contact
them to no avail. Scared
it was a scam to get my
info. They were
recommended by credit
karma. They have my
fathers info also. They
guaranteed they would
get this done. Complaint
Type: Problems with
Product/Service Status:
Answered
03/13/2019 I have
attempted to contact
someone at this office
countless times via
phone call, email and
chat, I have been
unsuccessful in finding
out the reason this bank
has decided to lock my
account and HOLD MY
FUNDs WITHOUT INFORMING
ME...
FFW and
Inner City Press have been
deeply concerned about the
rush by the Federal
Reserve's to rubber-stamp
mergers by redliners and
predatory lenders. This
has been killing the
Community Reinvestment Act
and we timely request
public hearings. The
comment period should be
extended; evidentiary
hearings should be held;
and on the current record,
the application should not
be approved."
CRA Litmus Test As M&T People's
Challenged On Racial Disparities In
Lending in NY CT PA
FEDERAL
COURT / S Bronx, March
27 – Whether or not the
U.S. Community
Reinvestment Act will be
again enforced until the
new Administration and
its regulators is an
open question. And the
proposed merger of two
redlining banks, M&T
and People's United,
will be the litmus test.
On
March 27, Fair Finance
Watch and Inner City
Press on the FOIA filed
a challenge with the
Federal Reserve to the
banks' application:
"This is a timely first
comment opposing and
requesting an extension
of the FRB's public
comment period on the
Applications by M&T
Bank Corporation to
acquire People's United
Financial.
The applicant M&T in
New York State in 2019
made 8,613 home loans to
whites and only 629 to
African Americans.
M&T in New York
State in 2019 made 3.4
loans to whites for each
denial to whites. It
made only 1.4 loans to
African Americans for
every denial to African
Americans.
This
is totally
unacceptable.
The
applicant M&T in
Connecticut in 2019 made
251 home loans to whites
and only 27 to African
Americans. M&T
in Connecticut in 2019
made 2 loans to whites
for each denial to
whites. It made only
1.28 loans to African
Americans for every
denial to African
Americans.
This is
unacceptable.
The applicant M&T in
Pennsylvania in 2019
made 3565 home loans to
whites and only 106 to
African Americans.
M&T
in Pennsylvania in 2019
made 2.52 loans to
whites for each denial
to whites. It made only
1.15 loans to African
Americans for every
denial to African
Americans.
This is totally
unacceptable.
Meanwhile, People's says
it will close some 140
branches.
FFW and Inner City Press
have been deeply
concerned about the rush
by the FRS' penchant to
rubberstamp mergers by
redliners, particularly
during the pandemic. We
note the Fed's recent
website statement that a
comment period has been
extended to allow
participation amid the
Coronavirus crisis. This
should be done, by the
Fed's logic, on this and
other applications. We
timely request public
hearings.
The
hearings, and your
review, should also
address M&T's
discrimation, see, e.g.,
(EEOC v.
Manufacturers and
Traders Trust Co.,
d/b/a M&T Bank.,
Civil Action No.
1:16-cv-03180-ELH) in
U.S. District Court for
the District of
Maryland, Northern
Division. See
also,this.
The
comment period should be
extended; evidentiary
hearings should be held;
and on the current
record, the application
should not be approved.
Meanwhile
in Federal court, PNC
Bank and its Midland
Loan Services have been
sued for usury,
predatory lending and
civil conspiracy, under
New York and Federal
law.
* * *
PNC
Bank Is Sued For Usury and NY
Civil Conspiracy As Applies For
BBVA Under CRA
SDNY
COURTHOUSE, Dec 29 – PNC
Bank and its Midland
Loan Services have been
sued for usury,
predatory lending and
civil conspiracy, under
New York and Federal
law.
The
complaint docketed on
December 29 in the U.S.
District Court for the
Southern District of New
York, which Inner City
Press covers, describes
PNC's lending on a
number of homes and
allegedly racking up
$250 charges.
It
questions the reporting
on line 205 of the HUD
statement. When the
plaintiff questioned it,
he was called an
"assh*ole."
The
case is filed while PNC
seeks to buy the US
retail banking business
of BBVA for $16 billion,
an application to the
Federal Reserve Board
and other regulators
which is subject to the
Community Reinvestment
Act.
The
case is Barli v. PNC
Bank, NA et al.,
20-cv-11027 (Unassigned)
***
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March 18,
2020, Shelterforce, "Trump Agencies
Resist Calls to Suspend Non-Essential
Rulemaking," by Miriam Axel-Lute, "'In
light of the Coronavirus / COVID-19
crisis, leading to the shutdown of some
courts, shelter in place orders and
regulatory extensions even by the SEC,'
the OCC and FDIC comment period be
extended for months, wrote Matthew Lee
of Fair Finance Watch in a formal
comment to the OCC," https://shelterforce.org/2020/03/18/federal-agencies-resist-calls-suspend-rulemaking/
Barron's,
Jan 31, 2018, "A ‘Sea Change’ at the Fed
Could Open the Door to Bank Mergers," By
Ben Walsh, "Barron’s spoke to one group,
Fair Finance Watch, that submitted
comments in the Cadence and Synovus
transactions. Matthew Lee, the group’s
executive director says he believes that
the Fed’s approval structure creates
makes it necessary for groups like his
to file CRA comments to ensure that
transactions are given appropriate
review," https://www.barrons.com/articles/federal-reserve-is-seen-helping-bank-mergers-51548943990
FFW
researches,
documents
and advocates around financial firms'
activities, and how they affect local
communities. FFW files its findings with
tribunals, regulatory agencies, and
elsewhere, including on this Web site .
Click here
to view analyses of several multinational
financial institutions' effects on
consumers and the environment, worldwide:
for two examples, Citigroup
and HSBC.
Click here
for some initial brainstorming
on the application of human rights and
international law to the global financial
services companies, and for citations
(where possible, links)
to resource material. Click here for
some September 2004 campaigns -- PNC/Riggs
(Finance
Watch Reports of August 16, 2004,
onwards), J.P.
Morgan Chase, etc.. Click here for an
ongoing report on the campaign to reform
anti-money laundering, tax haven, and bank
secrecy laws. Click here
for the Human
Rights Enforcement project,
including its new (9/04) criminal
justice and local human rights project.
Human Rights &
Finance: Predatory Lending in a
Deregulated Network Economy
If the biggest names
in finance -- Citigroup, HSBC, General
Electric and AIG -- have been engaged in
predatory lending in the United States,
there's a need for an inquiry into their
behavior in less regulated economies
internationally.
An inescapable trend
in this new millennium is the export of
subprime lending models beyond the United
States. Citigroup, following its
acquisition of Associates First Capital
Corporation in late 2000, began offering
subprime loans to lower-income consumers
in countries from Brazil and Mexico to
India and Korea. The Hong Kong Shanghai
Banking Corporation (HSBC) bought
Household International a mere month after
Household settled predatory lending
charges with attorneys general in 42
states for half a billion dollars. In
making the deal, HSBC chairman Sir John
Bond said that the profits would come from
exporting Household's model to the 81
other countries in which HSBC does
business; a month later, HSBC announced it
would compete in subprime with Citigroup
in Brazil.
From Australia through
North America and back to Eastern Europe,
General Electric, through its GE Capital
unit, has developed a subprime lending
capacity on which the sun never sets. The
insurance company AIG has more quietly
taken the subprime lending model of
American General, which AIG bought in
2001, to the other countries in which AIG
goes business.
This consensus around
high-rate lending in emerging markets by
the world's largest bank (Citigroup),
insurer (AIG) and corporation (GE) is
indicative of the way in which c