Bank Accused of Racist Lending Practices in NY!

SETTLEMENT: The settlement with Mr. General Eric Schneiderman, the New York State Attorney-General, includes an $825,000 fund to boost homeownership in the discriminated, neglected areas (Reported by Ryan Grenoble, 2015).


We've always said there are theories and proven life experiences behind the statements we make and the materials we present in these forums. This latest case about redlining1 in the United States should inform the balanced, objective, and reflective reader that companies and corporations (i.e. free enterprise markets), through their owners and management will discriminate on the basis of race (and on other non-economic characteristics) in the United States, even if it is not in their objective "best" interest.


So, even as American banks and Wall Street firms lock arm-in-arm with the Federal Reserve, borrowing trillions of dollars practically at Zero (0) percent "non-market" interest rates, many of these same "free" enterprise "markets" will discriminate until the government steps in. In the United States, if the neighborhoods affected are located in Republican states, chances are nothing will be done for months, decades, generations. Suffice to say that in addition to socio-cultural isolation of the communities and groups affected, this type of economic discrimination negatively affects production (i.e, GDP, GNP), however it is measured.


It is cured only through aggressive prosecution at state expense.


We imagine that similar cases are already rearing their heads in Ghana and will become more evident in due course, particularly in areas outside the major urban areas of Accra-Tema, and regional capitals like Kumasi, Sunyani, Takoradi, Tamale, etc. But, it will take surveys and research by journalists, academics, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and government, etc., to see the differentials, their impacts on peoples' life chances, and the types of remedies government throws at those problems region-to-region, locale-to-locale.


So read on, their reader!


READ: Bank Accused Of Racist Lending Practices Settles Suit With New York State!


READ

NEW YORK, September, 2015: "...Evans Bank on Thursday settled a lawsuit in which the state of New York accused the bank of racist practices, including denying loans to residents of predominantly black neighborhoods in Buffalo.../
/...The suit, filed in 2014 by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, accused the Buffalo-based bank of intentionally not making loans in eastern parts of the city due to their racial composition, regardless of applicants' creditworthiness, a practice known as "redlining"...As part of the settlement, Evans Bank agreed to expand its lending area to include the neighborhoods in question and to create an $825,000 fund to boost homeownership and lending in those areas..../

/...The state also accused Evans of refusing to solicit customers, market mortgages or provide banking facilities such as branch offices and ATMs in those areas.../

/..."It is essential that all New Yorkers, regardless of the color of their skin or the racial makeup of their neighborhoods, be afforded equal access to our banking systems -- and the basic benefits of obtaining a mortgage," Schneiderman said...on Thursday...//...“That we continue to see systematic racial and housing discrimination in New York in 2015 is shocking. I will not stand for it," he continued.../

/...Evans Bank did not immediately respond to HuffPost's request for comment on the settlement. When the suit was first filed, David J. Nasca, the bank's president and chief executive, said he was "disappointed" in the suit and that the "allegations are without any merit."...""

SOURCE: Ryan Grenoble, News Editor, The Huffington Post, 09/10/2015.

NOTE:
1. REDLINING - When a Bank, an economic interest that benefits from public resources of all tax payers, deliberately refuses loans and other banking services to residents of a predominantly black/brown minority neighborhood, resulting in stagnation, decline, or ghettoization of that neighborhood. In that environment, the community pays more to create jobs and employment. The community pays a lot more for everything it needs, including food, housing, and transportation. Also affected are the life chances of their children, and their children. This anti-free enterprise condition generally requires the action of state governments, both federal and state, to nip in the bud in the interests of all the people who pay taxes.



©Prof Lungu is Ghana-centered/Ghana-Proud.
Prof Lungu is based in Washington DC, USA.
Bank Accused of Racist Lending Practices in NY!
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