| As OCC
Proposes to
End Automatic
Approvals It
Withheld under
FOIA US Bank
Letter it Used
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
SOUTH BRONX NYC,
Jan 29 –
How
untransparent
and pro-bank
are today's
regulators,
including the
Office of the
Comptroller of
the Currency?
We ask as the
OCC on January
29, 2024
announced a
proposal for
what it
pitched as
more
transparency
in merger
reviews. The
proposal, they
said,
"detail[s] the
types of deals
that would
typically
secure
approval and
the issues
that could
complicate or
derail
transactions,"
Michael Hsu,
the acting
comptroller,
said. The end
of so-called
automatic
approvals is
overplayed; a
database would
help. But too
some, this
appears to be
a sop to the
banks, not
communities or
consumers.
Consider:
Back
on February
10, 2023 came
the OCC's
denial in full
of Inner City
Press' Freedom
of Information
Act request
about its
approval of
U.S. Bank's
application to
acquire Union
Bank, which
Fair Finance
Watch and
others
challenged
under the
Community
Reinvestment
Act.
Inner
City Press
submitted the
request in
November 2022,
and
immediately
clarified and
narrowed the
request after
an OCC
inquiry.
On
February 10,
2023, the OCC
responded -
and withheld
16 pages in
full
On
February 14,
Inner City
Press filed
its appeal.
On
March 16,
2023, OCC
Deputy General
Counsel
Patricia S.
Grady denied
the appeal in
full - the
bank's
commitment
letter the OCC
based its
approval all
it totally
secret. Letter
on Inner City
Press'
DocumentCloud
here.
This is
unacceptable.
Will it be
addressed?
Watch this
site.
***
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