ICP
Protests BNC -
High Point,
2015 Lending
Fell 80% from
2014
By
Matthew R. Lee
NEW
YORK, October
4 -- The lack
of seriousness
in US bank
regulation
grows from the
relatively
smaller to the
largest banks
like Goldman
Sachs - down
to Bank of
North Carolina
(BNC), whose
proposed
acquisition of
High Point
Bank
Corporation
Inner City
Press has
challenged and
the Federal
Reserve has
asked
questions on,
and
BancorpSouth,
which Inner
City Press
protested for
discrimination
in 2014, and
has now been
charged by the
Department of
Justice and
CFPB.
On the
evening of
August 24, the
Federal
Reserve asked
BNC questions
about Inner
City Press'
protest,
including:
"The
public comment
submitted on
the proposed
merger
includes
assertions
that Home
Mortgage
Disclosure Act
data from
several
metropolitan
areas indicate
that both BNC
Bank and High
Point Bank had
unfavorable
levels of
mortgage
lending to
African
American and
Hispanic
individuals as
compared to
white
individuals."
Now
while BNC
brags it will
close its deal
by the end of
October, Inner
City Press has
just submitted
a second
comment with
the just
released 2015
HMDA data.
BNC's
conventional
home purchase
lending to
African
Americans in
the Charleston
MSA has
falling by
over 80% from
2014 to 2015.
Inner City
Press has
today
submitted to
the Federal
Reserve:
"this,
with
Compliance
Plan withheld,
is the record
of the
proposal
acquirer: in
the Charleston
MSA in 2014
for
conventional
home purchase
loans, BNC
made 173 such
loans to
whites and
only SIX to
African
Americans, and
none to
Latinos. For
refinance
loans, it made
68 loans to
whites and
only ONE to an
African
American,
while denying
the
applications
of African
Americans 3.94
times more
frequently
than those of
whites.
In 2015,
things got
substantially
worse. For
conventional
home purchase
loans in the
Charleston MSA
in 2015, while
BNC made 45
such loans to
whites, it
made only ONE
to an African
American (down
from six in
2014).
This
application
should be
denied. We ask
for more time
to comment on
this 2015
data.
On the current
record,
hearings
should be held
and the
application(s)
should not be
approved. The
comment period
must be
extended."
The
Winston-Salem
Journal reported:
"regulatory
approval was
delayed in
part by two
New York
advocate
groups
challenging
BNC's lending
practices
involving
minority and
underserved
applicants in
its markets.
Inner City
Press and
affiliate Fair
Finance Watch
filed a
protest with
the Federal
Reserve under
the federal
Community
Reinvestment
Act. It is a
normal
practice of
those groups
to challenge
minority-lending
practices when
a significant
bank purchase
is announced.
Fed officials
asked for
additional
information
Dec. 2. BNC
responded and
asked that its
minority-lending
data remain
confidential.
Rick
Callicutt, the
bank's chief
executive and
president,
said in April
that because
BNC has
surpassed $5
billion in
total assets,
it faces "a
higher level
of expectation
to market more
heavily to the
underserved in
its markets.
All our
Community
Reinvestment
Act exams have
been good."
Really? BNC's
conventional
home purchase
lending to
African
Americans in
the Charleston
MSA has
falling by
over 80% from
2014 to 2015.
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