Capital Briefs: OCC to Hold Meeting on U.S. Bancorp Deal

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency will hold a private meeting Monday in Los Angeles for community activists and U.S. Bancorp officials to discuss the Minneapolis-based bank's planned acquisition of Western Bancorp., Newport Beach, Calif.

The Greenlining Institute and the California Reinvestment Committee claim U.S. Bancorp neglects minorities while Western discriminates against them.

The OCC denied the groups' request for a public hearing in early September. The community groups responded with an angry letter to Comptroller John D. Hawke Jr. blasting the OCC as "pro-bank" and "a rubber stamp for big banks."

Monday's meeting is designed to give the activists a chance to make their case to the bank and the agency. -- Katharine Fraser

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
MORE FROM AMERICAN BANKER