Senate Democrats Ask Banking Regulator to Explain Handling of "Redlining" Investigations
Eighteen Senate Democrats on Monday asked a leading U.S. bank regulator to explain how his agency handled investigations into discrimination and redlining in the banking industry.
The letter, signed by Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, and the other lawmakers, comes after a story by ProPublica and The Capitol Forum recounting how six lending discrimination probes were dropped under President Donald Trump.
It calls on the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to explain how it handled those cases and why the banks involved have not been sanctioned. Without intervention by the OCC, countless consumers could be subject to discrimination with no way to know or seek redress, the letter says.
The OCC abandoned investigations into Bank of America and five other lenders suspected of bias, ProPublica and The Capitol Forum reported. The Bank of America probe was shelved after corporate lawyers pushed back on examiners, according to the story.
Read more: https://www.propublica.org/article/senate-democrats-ask-banking-regulator-to-explain-handling-of-redlining-investigations