In the News

American Banker, January 30, 2023, BankThink There’s A Surprising Risk Lurking In The Details Of Bank Mergers Big mergers don’t get approved today without big Community Benefit Agreements. Big as in $100 billion in the recent U.S. Bank deal, $88 billion with PNC, and likely over $100 billion on the pending TD Bank-First Horizon merger. […]

House Digest, January 25, 2023, Bad Home Advice Dished Out On House Hunters This glossing-over effect signals that race, sexual orientation, and other facets of a person’s identity are irrelevant in the home-buying process. As The New York Times highlights, black families have historically found it much harder to secure a mortgage loan than white families. Same-sex couples could

Market Watch, January 20, 2023, ‘The economic consequences are real’: Officials push for deeper scrutiny of racial bias in home-appraisal process The federal government is taking steps towards addressing bias in the home-appraisal process, after media reports and a new documentary series surface instances of bias and undervaluations.  “The gap in homeownership between Black and

American Banker, January 26, 2023, Auto lending practices draw regulatory scrutiny for USAA Fair-lending and consumer protection advocates see the unprecedented second failing grade as a sign of both the severity of USAA’s malpractice and a growing willingness for regulators to be tougher on banks.  “What is encouraging about all this is that we’ve called

Trib Live, January 17, 2022, PNC closing 2 more Pittsburgh-area locations, including Vandergrift branch “While I hate to see a business leave the community, I also understand the reasons this is happening throughout the banking industry,” Kessler said. “Fewer and fewer people actually visit brick-and-mortar banks anymore. So much banking is done electronically.” According to

American University Magazine, MetroCentrered: Navigating Neighborhood Transition Washington was the nation’s most intensely gentrified city between 2000 and 2013, according to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC). Of 154 neighborhoods “eligible to gentrify”—those with median home values and household incomes below the 40th percentile—62 did based on increases in property values and college degree attainment.

Axios Philadelphia, December 15, 2022, Mortgage lender accused of underserving Black homebuyers in Philly Why it matters:Philadelphia is still reckoning with a long history of discriminatory policies that made it more difficult for Black applicants to access mortgages, compared to their white counterparts. The other side: KeyBank said in a statement that it “strongly disagrees” with the NCRC’s

American Banker, January 12, 2023, Community reinvestment group plans to put KeyBank’s regulators on notice One month after releasing a highly critical report about KeyBank’s mortgage lending record to Black borrowers, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition is taking its concerns to regulators. The fair-lending advocacy group says it is planning to send letters this quarter

County 10, January 10, 2022, ‘Ingrained and embedded’: Seminar spotlights institutional racism in systems, communities, individuals The facilitator used stories, multiple videos, and group activities to illustrate how institutional racism is “ingrained and embedded” into daily life in the United States, creating “inequitable opportunities and outcomes” in the workplace, the housing market, healthcare settings, education, and more.

Greenville News, January 11, 2023, Key findings from The Cost of Unity, a series on the displacement of Black Greenville Over the last 30 years, thousands of affluent white people moved into Southernside, West Greenville and other historically Black neighborhoods, raising property values and pushing out less affluent Black people. A 2020 report from the National

Patch, January 4, 2022, Washington, DC: Mayor Bowser Announces Key Appointments? Colleen Green is appointed Acting Director of the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). Director Green has significant experience in finance, real estate, advisory services, operations, strategic planning, and business development. She has worked for both for-profit and nonprofit housing development organizations and

The Washington Business Journal, December 27, 2022, D.C.-based NCRC Community Development Fund using AI to increase lending capacity NCRC Community Development Fund, a subsidiary of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, lends primarily to Black, Latino, women and immigrant entrepreneurs and business owners throughout the country. Its new lending platform – for which it is also

The Ascent, December 21, 2022, Major Mortgage Lender Is Accused of Discrimination KeyBank is said to have underserved Black borrowers in the Philadelphia region, according to a new report from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. Last year, only 2.2% of the more than 1,2000 mortgages it approved in that area went to Black borrowers. By

Times of News, December 28, 2022, Review of RBC’s $13.5B takeover of HSBC Canada shows limits to system: critics BMO set out its benefits plan in late November, outlining more than $40 billion in lending commitments to low and moderate-income households, minorities, small businesses, and community development opportunities. TD is also working through its own

The Billy Penn Newsletter, December 28, 2022, What will Philly’s mayoral candidates do about gentrification? Here’s what they said By the start of the 2010s, Philadelphia was one of the seven most gentrified cities in the country, per a study by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. “Gentrification is our number one problem,” longtime Point Breeze