Bragging
of
Uptick,
BankUnited
Excludes
Poorer NYers,
Summers in
Wings?
By
Matthew
R. Lee
NEW
YORK, July 24
-- Alongside
the debate on
the economy at
the national
level, amid
President
Barack Obama
speeches and
reports he's
considering
Larry Summers
to replace Ben
Bernanke atop
the Federal
Reserve, a
sample bank
earnings
conference
call Wednesday
told
another story.
John
Kanas of
BankUnited
fielded
questions from
Deutsche Bank,
Wells
Fargo, Credit
Suisse and
Inner City
Press. He
bragged of
construction
cranes on
Brickell
Avenue in
Miami, and of
his bank's
four branches
in Manhattan
and one in
Suffolk County
on Long
Island.
Inner
City Press
asked if
BankUnited's
chosen
assessment
area for the
Community
Reinvestment
Act, to serve
low and
moderate
income people,
was only
affluent
sections of
Manhattan and
Suffolk
County, and
for
more detail on
any plans to
open branches
in New York
City's "outer
boroughs"
including The
Bronx, Queens
and Brooklyn.
Kanas
at first asked
for
clarification
-- Inner City
Press has
questioned
him before on
these topics,
when he led
North Fork
Bank then at
Capital One --
then said that
the Suffolk
branch is
right near the
Nassau County
line.
Shouldn't
BankUnited's
CRA assessment
area then
include
Nassau? And
how can the
lowest income
sections of
New York City
be excluded?
This
is a question
being asked
not only in
New York, but
also through
NCRC
by a coalition
of groups in
Florida.
Earlier
in
the call,
before taking
questions,
Kanas had
bragged that
many of
"his" deposits
came from
previous
relationships
in the New
York market.
Since North
Fork bought
Northside
Savings Bank
in The
Bronx, Inner
City Press on
Wednesday
asked if any
of
BankUnited's
deposits come
from The
Bronx. Kanas
said no, they
are Manhattan.
But
is that a
fact?
Until
earlier this
month, Inner
City Press
used and cited
SNL Financial
in
stories such
as these. A
request to
continue, and
specifically
about
BankUnited, is
pending before
Christina M.
Twomey of
SNL's Public
Relations. We
hope to have
more on this -
and on Summers
and the Fed.
Watch this
site.
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