February 11, 2003
Robert E. Feldman
Executive Secretary
Attention: Comments/ES
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
550 17th St. NW
Washington DC 20429
RE: Proposed Rule Part 303
Dear Mr. Feldman:
The National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) opposes the
FDIC's proposal to waive regulatory procedures on a case-by-case basis
that are not required by statute. NCRC is the nation's CRA trade
association of 700 community-based organizations who use the merger
application process to comment on community reinvestment and fair
lending performance of lending institutions.
If the FDIC waived regulations not required by statute, we believe
that it is likely that the agency will waive public comment, public
notice requirements, and other vital parts of the merger application
process. Consequently, the public's input into mergers that affect
access to credit and capital for minority and low- and moderate
communities will be cut-off. In other words, the public would have no
recourse to a federal agency when a merger affects the wellbeing of
their community. Public comments have motivated banks and federal
agencies to address weaknesses in lender community reinvestment and fair
lending performance. Therefore, eliminating public comment eliminates
the chance to increase bank lending and investing after mergers.
In order for a regulatory process to be fair to all parties, the
federal agency cannot waive a process for some banks and not others.
Waivers on a case-by-case basis are arbitrary and result in uneven
regulatory enforcement. NCRC urges the FDIC to withdraw, this proposal.
The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) has granted itself the
authority to waive non-statutory procedures on merger applications. NCRC
members, including Inner City Press/Community on the Move, have
experienced arbitrary decisions on OTS merger proceedings. For example,
the AIG American General application was not subject to informal and
formal meetings with community groups and the regulator while other
mergers have been. It seems that the more contested mergers in which
lenders have noted weaknesses in their reinvestment performance are
precisely the ones qualifying for the streamlined procedures. The FDIC
would be abdicating its fair lending and community reinvestment
enforcement obligations if it adopted the same non-statutory waiver
procedures as the OTS.
If you have any questions, please contact myself or Josh Silver, Vice
President of Research and Policy, on 202-628-8866.
Sincerely,
John Taylor
President and CEO
National Community Reinvestment Coalition
733 15th Street, N.W. Suite 540
Washington, DC 20005-2129
