Lawmakers want inquiry into report that OCC halted redlining probes

American Banker
Friday, August 14, 2020

Three Senate Democrats are calling for an inquiry into reports that officials at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency halted at least a half-dozen investigations related to racial discrimination and redlining. “Recent reports indicate that senior OCC officials have abdicated their responsibilities — allowing banks to continue business as usual despite alleged violations of [Equal Credit Opportunity Act] and [Fair Housing Act],” the senators wrote to the acting Treasury Department inspector general on Thursday. The senators’ letter followed a July 13 ProPublica report that OCC staff over the last three years discovered at least six banks, including Bank of America and Cadence Bancorp, were allegedly engaged in discriminatory lending, but failed to reprimand or penalize the institutions.