In the News

American Banker, April 27, 2022, New York Community and Flagstar delay merger, shift regulatory strategy New York Community Bancorp and Flagstar Bancorp are extending the deadline for their merger until late October and have decided the combined entity would be a national — not a state-chartered — bank. The change in strategy comes three months …

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NAFCU, April 26, 2022, Berger: Big banks have abandoned underserved communities In a new op-ed for American Banker, NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger calls out the soaring closure rate of big bank branches and its disproportionate impact on underserved, rural communities, while simultaneously hastening the formation of banking deserts. Recognizing the toll the pandemic took on …

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Insider Intelligence, April 25, 2022, CFPB looks into the financial challenges of rural communities in the US The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is looking into the financial challenges faced by rural communities in the US living in banking deserts. Eighty-six new banking deserts were created in rural areas from 2008 to 2016, according to the …

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American Banker, Waters’ proposed legislation would benefit underbanked communities A recent report from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition found that while families and Main Street small businesses were desperate for financial support and counsel, America’s banks took advantage of the crisis to accelerate the pace of their already planned branch closures, escalating the formation rate of banking …

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Department of Health NYC, The 90-year-old financial policy that harms our health In New York City, many once-thriving neighborhoods experienced severe disinvestment as a result of redlining, which caused inequality that continued from one generation to the next. Neighborhoods that were redlined in the 1930s have higher rates of poverty even today – nearly 90 …

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American Banker, April 20, 2022, Why this credit union says AI can reduce lending bias “A lot of times lenders are nervous about making changes to their models to improve their fairness because they’re concerned that if they make a change to their model, it may be considered a reflection that they had an unfair …

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First Merchants, April 19, 2022, First Merchants Bank opens a new Ohio banking center focused on positively impacting the local community They have partnered with the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) through a five-year commitment to invest $1.4 billion in their communities including new branch access, down payment assistance programs and more. The bank is …

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Eisner Amper, April 18, 2022, The “Social” Component of ESG Investing In this episode of Engaging Alternatives Spotlight, Elana Margulies-Snyderman, Senior Manager, Publications, EisnerAmper, speaks with Eleni D. Janis, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Equivico, a New York City-based woman-owned impact investment management firm launched with support from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition …

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The New York Times, April 19, 2022, To the Editor: Preying on People of Color “Reverse redlining,” for example, is on the rise in housing, as minority neighborhoods are targeted with higher prices or unfair lending practices. Black homeownership has declined more drastically than for any other ethnic or racial group in the U.S.

MDJ Online, April 17, 2022, What will it take to replace the tens of thousands of trees cut down in Wichita? Wichita was recently identified by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition as one of the three most “redlined” cities in the nation in the 1930s, with nearly 64% of its neighborhoods graded as “hazardous” by …

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The Hill, April 15, 2022, Why reform a lending law that we may not need at all? In a March 1 letter to bank regulators, 123 organizations expressed support for seven additions to existing CRA requirements, which focus on lending and other banking services in neighborhoods in which traditional, regulated banks have branches. Led by …

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The Wall Street Journal, April 15, 2022, Biden to Nominate Michael Barr as Top Fed Banking Regulator After Ms. Raskin’s and Ms. Omarova’s withdrawals at the hands of Republicans and centrist Democrats in the Senate, some banking experts see Mr. Barr’s nomination as a White House tack toward the center. “Certainly the political winds have …

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Public Source, April 18, 2022, Pittsburgh’s racial homeownership gap grows. What can be done to fix it? The National Community Reinvestment Coalition [NCRC] has published several reports highlighting the long-lasting impacts of redlining and housing discriminatory practices, including how the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened racial disparities in homeownership. “There are statistically significant associations between greater …

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KB Exchange Trust, April 12, 2022, Banks Accelerate Closure of In-Store Branches According to a report from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), 9 percent of all bank branch locations in the US closed between 2017 and 2021, a loss of about 7,500 brick-and-mortar locations. The pace of branch closings doubled during the pandemic, the …

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Politico, April 15, 2022, Washington Was an Icon of Black Political Power. Then Came Gentrification. A 2019 study by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition found that D.C. had the highest “intensity” of gentrification of any city in the United States between 2000 and 2013. A follow-up NCRC study found that D.C. then fell to 13th …

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