WASHINGTON - Community activists demonstrated outside First Union Corp.'s Charlotte, N.C., headquarters Tuesday, demanding that shareholders vote against a proposed takeover of First Fidelity Bancorp.
The demonstration missed its mark - 89% of the stockholders voted for the merger deal.
But the vote didn't discourage the protesters, who charge that First Union ignores low-income and minority communities.
"We have hundreds of people here," said Bruce Marks, executive director of the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America. "We marched down to First Union and we closed down First Union. They locked all their doors, they locked all their elevators."
Mr. Marks, whose group has formally protested the merger under the Community Reinvestment Act, said the demonstrators planned to distribute anti-First Union flyers throughout Charlotte before protesting in front of bank chairman Edward Crutchfield's home late Tuesday.
First Union spokesman Jeep Bryant said the demonstrators were not allowed into the meeting room because they had not preregistered. He said the bank had remained open all day, and allowed the group to demonstrate in the lobby and in a plaza adjacent to the headquarters.
"The tactics employed this morning aren't necessary, because we do have an open door," Mr. Bryant said, adding that the bank held more than 850 meetings with community leaders last year.
He also defended the bank's Community Reinvestment Act record, noting that its lead bank had received an "outstanding" rating in+ its most recent exam.
The combined $118 billion bank would perform even better, he said. "Putting these two organizations together will result in a company with more resources that can do more in the neighborhoods they are talking about," Mr. Bryant said.
The demonstration came a week after the Community Reinvestment Alliance of Pennsylvania filed the latest CRA protest against the $5.56 billion merger.
The alliance said the bank had refused to commit to serving low-income and minority communities in Philadelphia.
"As of last week we hadn't had a serious offer from them," said Steve Culbertson, director of the Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations. "So, to preserve our position we had to file a challenge. The negotiations are continuing, and we are hopeful we can come to an agreement."
