WASHINGTON -- A Bronx, N.Y.-based community group continues to attack banks that fail to serve its borough, choosing Republic National Bank as its latest target.
Inner City Press Community on the Move filed a protest Oct. 6 with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York charging Republic with redlining the Bronx in violation of the Community Reinvestment Act. The group asked the Fed to block a bid by two of Republic's primary stockholders to acquire more voting shares of the bank.
Bank spokesman Phillip Burgess declined to comment.
The community group states in the complaint that Republic includes Manhattan, Brooklyn, most of Queens, and Westchester County in its CRA map. But. despite having a branch in the Bronx, it only includes a small portion of that mostly low-income borough.
The group also charges that the bank received 30 applications from whites for refinancing of home mortgages for each application from a Hispanic and 20 applications from whites for each application from an African-American in the greater New York area.
"ICP urges that Republic's instant application be denied until such a time as Republic extends its delineation, and announces a marketing plan, including new branches, to remedy its current exclusion of low-income and minority communities," the complaint states. --Jaret Seiberg
