Public Meeting Regarding NationsBank and BankAmerica - Panel 6
Thursday, July 9, 1998
Transcript of Panel Six
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1 MS. SMITH: I think our court reporter is
2 ready to go, and someone is going to fill in for our
3 timekeepers until our timekeepers return. We'd like to
4 go ahead. Our panel is all here and we will start with
5 Ms. Cincotta.
6 MS. CINCOTTA: My mike is on. Thank you
7 very much.
8 It's nice to be in San Francisco, but I
9 would like to really urge you that the Federal Reserve
10 Board did not end it at a one-day hearing here. People
11 all over the country want to comment on this. This is a
12 very important issue for everybody and people can't all
13 afford to get out here. Three of us shared a room
14 together to help cut down to cost last night.
15 National Training Information Center,
16 which I am Executive Director of, and National People's
17 Action, who I am chairperson of, have worked on getting
18 home mortgage disclosure passed, CRA, and then went into
19 whatever else it takes to make the market work in our
20 communities such as the Jessie Legislation, going after
21 the MI companies, insurance partners, that bring
22 together all the necessary pieces in lending.
23 When we got CRA passed, we did not think
24 the burden of making it work was going to go on all the
25 neighborhood organizations. We thought we got it
26 passed, we have disclosure and this is what regulators
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1 all should take care of.
2 To our dismay, most financial institutions
3 in the United States get a passing grade. I think most
4 of them get -- about 95 percent of them or more get a
5 passing grade. If they all deserved it, we wouldn't be
6 in this room today, we wouldn't be arguing about banking
7 or loans, et cetera. They don't deserve it. Maybe four
8 percent, and the other 95 don't deserve it.
9 In Chicago we have monitored agreements
10 with our large downtown lenders for 12, 14 years
11 following through, following through, following through.
12 They said they would do more but the secondary market
13 wouldn't buy their loans and we heard this from
14 institutions around the country. We took it to
15 Washington to make sure that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
16 would work for them.
17 So we have dealt with pieces of pieces of
18 pieces. And, if we ever hear an excuse of why loans
19 can't go in, be it the MI companies -- we went after the
20 MI companies to get them as part of the lending
21 community also.
22 So I want to make sure you know we don't
23 just pick on banks. If they say they'd like to do it
24 but they need help, we're willing to do that.
25 What we're facing in Chicago, which was a
26 major -- had major banks -- some of the major banks in
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1 the country, Chicago owned and operated. After all
2 these mergers and acquisitions take over, we're going to
3 have one bank that's Chicago owned and operated only.
4 One of the financial institutions we lost
5 years ago was Continental Illinois Bank. They wouldn't
6 loan in the community, but they lost a ton of money
7 speculating in Oklahoma in oil wells.
8 They went under, Bank of America took it
9 over. That was our first experience with Bank of
10 America. So this large institution all of a sudden
11 became a non-bank bank.
12 So any programs, anything with BankAmerica
13 had to be through NHS, through different groups doing
14 development, et cetera. But we're losing this big
15 institution you could walk in to talk to, argue with
16 about will they make loans, was lost.
17 Part of that decision was that would be
18 the non-bank bank, but the control would stay in
19 Chicago. As soon as the intra/interstate banking went
20 through, the control was moved to California. To
21 appease the regulators at that time, Bank of America
22 said they would open branches in all the Jewel Food
23 Stores. They did. It lasted two months until they got
24 approval to move the control to California.
25 So that was -- that's our experience. We
26 can work with some of the folks who were left in the
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1 building. Again, it's all putting special programs
2 together, not walking in, making deposit, getting a
3 loan.
4 One minute remaining. Thank you.
5 All we have from Nations in Chicago is
6 something called Nations Credit which receives a
7 predatory lender, if you could find your way downtown
8 and you are willing to pay maybe 15 percent for a loan.
9 They do not have a presence of regular lending, but just
10 through a loan kind of company. So that our experience
11 with Nations and what we're hearing from the groups
12 across the country that they're interested in
13 communities or lending is pretty bad.
14 We tried getting meetings with NationsBank
15 when we were having our national conference in
16 Washington this past year. Sent letters, made calls,
17 couldn't -- our style with NPA is we had a demonstration
18 at the bank until we got to talk to somebody, because we
19 will not take no for an answer for the community. It
20 ended up that they said they would meet with us in 30
21 days in St. Louis.
22 We pulled back on any protest, anything
23 until we could have that meeting. Talked to a gentleman
24 on the phone who said he would be speaking for -- was it
25 McCoy, who is head of Nations.
26 When we got down there, and we had groups
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1 from 12 cities, Cathy Bessant was the person who was
2 sent to represent the bank and we did not have the
3 person who I talked to on the phone, and we had
4 presented them with what we thought would be a good
5 agreement that they could do for ten years.
6 They laughed, they threw it away and
7 Ms. Bessant said -- at some point said, "We do not deal
8 with people like you," going like this (indicating).
9 "And, if you think we're ever going to deal with people
10 like you, you are mistaken."
11 And at the same time, they were touting
12 their agreement. I know I'm short of time, one more
13 sentence.
14 If you take their agreement and look at
15 their housing lending, what they say they want to do in
16 the next ten years is less than they've done in the last
17 ten years.
18 I would not believe one single word that
19 NationsBank told you, one single word of what they said
20 they're going to do. And, when you hear the experiences
21 of how they treat people in a lot of the local community
22 organizations, you wouldn't want them as your lender and
23 you wouldn't want them in your communities either.
24 So, please, have more hearings, deny them,
25 deny them, deny them until they learn how to deal with
26 people instead of being as obnoxious as they are.
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1 I mean, I've met a lot of bankers and
2 they're not all perfect, and neither am I. This tops
3 the cake, and you would agree if you'd been there.
4 Thank you.
5 MS. SMITH: Thank you very much.
6 MS. WEBB: My name is Margaret Webb, and
7 I'm from Wichita, Kansas. I'm here today representing
8 National People's Action and Sunflower Community Action
9 from Wichita, Kansas.
10 Before I begin, I would like to tell you a
11 little bit about myself. I'm a single parent working
12 two jobs. I am live in a low-income area, am very proud
13 of my community. I'm a volunteer at our local school
14 and leader with Sunflower Community Action.
15 I'm not getting paid to be here today. In
16 fact, I took the day off from work without pay because I
17 feel in my heart that we need a national CRA agreement
18 with NationsBank.
19 I am new to this part of the banking
20 process. In May Sunflower Community Action asked me if
21 I would be interested in looking into redlining at
22 NationsBank. I wanted to see if it was happening in
23 Wichita. Just getting to see a copy of the HMDA was
24 hard work. I went to NationsBank in downtown Wichita.
25 The bank alone covers two city blocks and is seven
26 stories high. To my understanding it was always a main
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1 bank in Kansas.
2 Anyway, I asked Marilyn Polly, the bank
3 president, if I could look at the HMDA. After some
4 stalling I found out our big beautiful downtown bank was
5 just a branch bank.
6 The only NationsBank that had the HMDA
7 information, according to Ms. Polly, was in the home
8 office in Charlotte, North Carolina. For some reason,
9 Ms. Polly had called Dallas, Texas, not Charlotte, for a
10 copy of the HMDA.
11 Now, remember, I just asked to look at a
12 copy of the information. To my understanding, CRA
13 regulations state that anyone should be able to walk in
14 the bank and look at the HMDA.
15 After more stalling, they did give me a
16 notebook with small business and farm loan data. But
17 the home loan section was empty. At first I was told
18 the bank had given us seven days to get the information.
19 Then, as I continued to press, Ms. Polly arranged to
20 have it overnighted. Imagine my surprise, when I
21 received it a few days later, on just how bad the
22 redlining is.
23 You all have a copy of it that I turned in
24 this morning, plus there is a bigger picture behind me
25 with Bank Four and Boatmen's.
26 NationsBank keeps saying that bigger is
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1 better, but we have small to medium sized banks that do
2 a whole lot better job of home loans than NationsBank.
3 NationsBank just isn't giving home loans to low and
4 moderate income people.
5 NationsBank says that it makes pledges,
6 but an executive of NationsBank also told me that those
7 pledges aren't legally binding.
8 On May 21st, I was with a group of people
9 that sat down with NationsBank, Bank of America, in St.
10 Louis. This meeting opened my eyes to NationsBank.
11 First of all, I felt it was nothing but a stalling
12 tactic on the part of NationsBank.
13 Catherine Bessant told us at that meeting,
14 and I quote, "We, NationsBank/Bank of America will never
15 work with people like you," end of quote. I feel that
16 we people is what made NationsBank what it is today.
17 NationsBank also says that they don't sign
18 contracts, they make pledges, not contracts or
19 agreements. How can they be held accountable without a
20 mutually signed agreement?
21 There are serious problems with allowing
22 this merger to take place without making the spirit of
23 CRA -- without making sure that spirit of CRA is
24 implemented at the level they plan to grow.
25 The rebuilding of my low-income community
26 is dependent on such an agreement. National Bank,
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1 national agreement.
2 NationsBank/Bank of America recently made
3 a promise of -- a ten-year promise. Part of that
4 promise was that they would loan money to rural America.
5 But last year, in Kansas alone, they closed ten
6 branches. Again, their talk isn't following what they
7 are doing.
8 Even if they give money to America, what
9 is it to stop them from redlining? To me it sounds like
10 they're dangling a carrot in front of us, look at the
11 money, not the redlining.
12 America wouldn't be what it is today
13 without people taking risks. The bank thinks it's a
14 risk to work with us, but in reality it's not.
15 I'm not asking for a handout. I am asking
16 to stop the redlining and give out home loans to low and
17 moderate income people. Our communities must be rebuilt
18 and the only way to do this is with a written national
19 CRA agreement
20 MS. SMITH: Thank you.
21 MR. ORTEGA: Buenos Tardes. Mi nombra es
22 Erneto Manuel [phonetic] Ortega. I forgot I'm in
23 California, English only. Sorry.
24 My name is Ernest E. Eugene Ortega. I
25 live in Albuquerque New Mexico. I have been involved in
26 low-income housing and community development work in
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1 rural and urban New Mexico for over 30 years. I would
2 support this merger if the bank made specific written
3 and enforceable commitments that New Mexicans would be
4 better served by this merger. As Bank of America's last
5 CRA evaluation shows, national commitments don't always
6 translate into better lending for New Mexico.
7 I am alarmed by the overall trend towards
8 national -- nationwide institutions. A national
9 approach will not work in New Mexico. New Mexico has
10 what is known as the Lou Wallace effect; if it works
11 somewhere else, it doesn't work in New Mexico.
12 The Federal Reserve has a responsibility
13 to ensure that a merger of this magnitude does not
14 adversely affect the consumers in New Mexico.
15 My support for the merger would be
16 contingent on the banks:
17 Presenting specific implementation plans
18 for the 350 billion as it relates to New Mexico.
19 Presenting a specific plan for monitoring
20 the 350 billion commitment as it would impact New
21 Mexico.
22 Continuation and expansion of Bank of
23 America's Rural 2000 initiative.
24 Continuation of a Bank of America's CRA
25 Advisory Committee Structure.
26 Assurances that the divestiture does not
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1 dilute CRA activities in New Mexico's rural communities.
2 Development of specific CRA initiative for
3 New Mexico's native American Pueblos and reservations.
4 Presentation of a plan which addresses
5 closing of the branches due to the overlapping of the
6 two banks. New Mexico is one of the states where there
7 is overlapping of the two banks.
8 What happens to minority personnel this
9 those branches? What happens to the minority consumers
10 in those communities? The other thing is how will those
11 consumers actually be served once those branches are
12 closed and how they actually occur.
13 Assurance the bank charges would not
14 escalate for moderate and low and rural consumers.
15 The CRA does not mean that New Mexicans
16 can be neglected because Californians or North
17 Carolinians are better served. We need a CRA commitment
18 for New Mexico based on New Mexico's needs, not its
19 market share as the banks have proposed.
20 The Federal Reserve and all other bank
21 regulators must find a way to make sure that national
22 banks serve small markets like New Mexico. In 1997 Bank
23 of America received an outstanding CRA rating, largely
24 based on its efforts in California, Washington and
25 Portland. But, as the OCC says, "Bank of America
26 historical commitment to the CRA has not been fully
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1 exported to the bank's other areas. The OCC gave Bank
2 of America's lending and investments in New Mexico a
3 grade of low satisfactory. Will this always be true in
4 an era of nationwide banks?
5 The question for all of us is how can we
6 assure that we get the best of both banks from this
7 merger.
8 We don't know if Bank of America's
9 eight-month-old Rural 2,000 community development
10 initiative has produced much in New Mexico, but we
11 should honor its goals. Also, I am proud to serve on
12 Bank of America's CRA Advisory Committee, which I think
13 provides a better relationship between advocates,
14 consumers and the bank than does NationsBank's annual
15 CRA forums.
16 This allows us, as consumers and
17 advocates, on a periodic basis to come and kick their
18 nuggats [phonetic]. For those of you, nuggats is
19 glutius maximus.
20 Both NationsBank and Bank of America need
21 to create specific sub-goals for serving Native
22 Americans in New Mexico.
23 If we get a specific, enforceable
24 commitment for New Mexico, as I previously stated, then
25 I could support this merger.
26 Sunwest, NationsBank predecessor in New
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1 Mexico, was a market leader in small business community
2 development lending, but its level of service to our
3 community appears to have declined recently. We need to
4 make sure that NationsBank, at a minimum, maintain
5 Sunwest's level of lending and investment.
6 In New Mexico, some divestiture of assets
7 would be necessary to reduce the monopoly power if the
8 merger were approved. Let's set criteria for
9 divestiture of those assets. I propose that any
10 institution assuming those assets must have a New Mexico
11 CRA rating higher of either that of Sunwest or Bank of
12 America in New Mexico.
13 If the past is any guide, the proposed 350
14 billion CRA commitment won't mean much to New Mexico. I
15 urge the Federal Reserve and other regulators reviewing
16 this application to help us create a financial system
17 that truly addresses New Mexico's credit and community
18 development needs.
19 I made some comments and my
20 recommendations in my written statement is elaborated a
21 little more.
22 MS. SMITH: We will be glad to have that
23 statement.
24 MR. ORTEGA: (In Spanish unintelligible.)
25 Thank you.
26 MR. TODEA: Good afternoon. Yati
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1 [phonetic] from Navajo country. My name is Rockling
2 Todea. I was born and raised on the Navajo Reservation
3 in northwest New Mexico. Today I live in Albuquerque,
4 New Mexico. I have been working in community-based
5 economic development since the early '70s, and I started
6 in San Francisco then. And now I'm working in New
7 Mexico.
8 I am representing the Community
9 Reinvestment and Development Task Force, a consortium of
10 community-based organizations concerned about low-income
11 housing, community development and fair access to
12 capital. Members of our coalition have been working on
13 CRA-related issues for decades now.
14 The question before us is this: How can
15 we ensure that New Mexicans obtain the best outcome from
16 this merger?
17 First, the Federal Reserve and other CRA
18 regulators must devise a way to ensure that nationwide
19 banks serve better small markets like New Mexico.
20 Consider the following: According to the
21 Office of Controller of the Currency's recent CRA
22 evaluation of Bank of America, Bank of America made few
23 community development investments during the period of
24 study in New Mexico.
25 Bank of America's overall housing lending
26 to low income and other traditionally underserved groups
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1 in New Mexico was substandard when compared to that of
2 other lenders.
3 Between 1994 and 1996, Hispanos, American
4 Indians and African Americans all experienced mortgage
5 application denial rates significantly higher than did
6 Anglo buyers, by all banks, even when controlling for
7 income levels.
8 Second, we strongly support a written,
9 enforceable commitment that the banks are committed to
10 changing the status quo in New Mexico. We believe that
11 approval of this merger and support from the public
12 should be based on the following conditions:
13 A written commitment to traditionally
14 underserved people who live in rural areas, inner cities
15 and who are members of groups neglected by lenders.
16 The establishment of a sub-goal for Indian
17 country that will spell out how the merged entity would
18 better serve Indian country.
19 And a divestiture plan that would assure
20 that the assets are sold to lenders with a superior
21 record and meeting the needs of traditionally
22 underserved New Mexicans.
23 Small business lending decisions are
24 usually based on relationships between a lender and a
25 small business or small farm owner. Nationwide banks
26 using national strategies cannot be depended on to focus
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1 on New Mexico's special business circumstances.
2 In his inaugural address, President John
3 F. Kennedy said, "If a free society cannot help the many
4 who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich." In
5 the last years since, America has undergone many
6 changes, but poverty has remained unchanged and some
7 would argue poverty has increased. Change has been good
8 for a few, but for the rest it has been the same old,
9 same old.
10 I work with individuals in groups from
11 low-income communities throughout New Mexico to help
12 them make changes in their lives. The biggest problem
13 facing these individuals is the deeply imbedded
14 institutional resistance to change, both public and
15 private.
16 For your information, New Mexico has
17 ranked 50th in the nation for the past three years in
18 level of poverty.
19 I want to share a story that demonstrates
20 an institutional discrimination within New Mexico. A
21 group of Navajo ranchers formed a cooperative on what is
22 referred as the Checkerboard area of the Navajo
23 Reservation. Their research was exceptional, the
24 business plan brilliantly conceived, the financial
25 forecast expertly supported by market research and
26 management capacity beyond question.
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1 This Bureau of Indian Affairs determined this venture
2 was not on trust lands, therefore, the ranchers could
3 not get a BIE loan guarantee.
4 The banks, on the other hand, refused to
5 make the loan because -- simply because the land
6 property was on -- the project was on Indian country.
7 Never mind that these families, ranchers,
8 have been ranchers since the turn of the century and
9 market conditions spelled opportunity in bold capital
10 letters.
11 Banks wouldn't come near this project as a
12 matter of longstanding policy, not because it was a bad
13 deal. The government agency that is mandated to assist
14 Indians refused assistance because of outdated policy.
15 The status quo was maintained.
16 The one-size-fits-all approach to
17 nationwide banks to small business lending and minority
18 development is not the answer. The banks in question
19 have demonstrated, little, if any, capacity to serve New
20 Mexico's native American communities. They have refused
21 to commit to maintaining the level of lending to our
22 state.
23 To add to our problem, the proposed merger
24 will remove lending decisions from the local communities
25 and place it outside the state. How is the loan officer
26 located somewhere in the east or west coast supposed to
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1 evaluate a proposal coming from New Mexico? Would that
2 loan officer understand that the value and needs of
3 Native Americans are different than their surrounding
4 neighbors? We fear not.
5 What would happen if the banks are to
6 close their branches in rural New Mexico? We are
7 worried too about declining services for traditionally
8 underserved areas and population groups, and we are
9 alarmed by the trend toward hiring freeze that is being
10 led by big banks. We are especially alarmed by big
11 banks anti-competitive practices.
12 That concludes my remarks.
13 MS. SMITH: Thank you very much, and, if
14 you had anything further, then please submit it for the
15 record.
16 MR. TODEA: I will, thank you.
17 MS. SMITH: Are you next?
18 MR. WELLS: Buenos dias. My name is
19 Robert Wells and I live in Chama, New Mexico, population
20 less than 1,000. I am an accountant and self-employed
21 consultant to small businesses in that part of the
22 state.
23 I want to express to this body of my
24 concern regarding the impact of this merger towards
25 rural America of which I believe the America I am from
26 is very typical of.
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1 I will admit that I am not well-versed on
2 many of the issues of other communities on a national
3 scale, but I will say that I find some very alarming
4 trends in banking practices that are definitely
5 affecting the way we have done business in the past.
6 In Northern New Mexico, especially the
7 Chama Valley, the lending policies, community
8 involvement and benefits are not being addressed fairly.
9 This is of great concern.
10 This geographic area of the state consists
11 of a community bank and a NationsBank branch, which is
12 rumored to be up for sale or subject to closure.
13 The next competitive bank is 90 miles
14 away. This is rural America. Northern New Mexico is
15 also the home to Jicarilla Apache Tribe, one of the
16 wealthiest Indian Nations in the country. Several
17 members of that tribe, not to mention many local
18 businesses, are not being served by our local banks.
19 I will correct myself on a prior statement
20 I just made. I will add a comment, and this is to say
21 that Norwest Bank does have a branch on the reservation,
22 but, to my knowledge, this branch was opened expressly
23 to accommodate casino operation revenues in addition to
24 some tribal transactions.
25 Four years ago, the main bank in town was
26 known to us as Sunwest Bank. Approximately two years
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1 ago it was purchased by Boatmen's and today it is a
2 NationsBank.
3 Regarding some of the lending practices.
4 I know of a current transaction where a loan for
5 $200,000 that was made with Sunwest Bank carried a
6 15-year amortization with a three-year call and was
7 collateralized by 500-plus thousand dollars of real
8 estate. That was the only way this loan could be
9 transacted. It was normal in the past to renew notes of
10 this automatically, assuming that the payments were
11 current and had never been in default.
12 That is not the case today. That is a
13 loan that I'm involved with right now.
14 Decisions regarding this loan were not
15 only made at the branch level, but it was also made by
16 another person in the Dallas, Texas area to renew it,
17 but somebody above her out of St. Louis, North Carolina
18 said no, despite the fact of spending collateral.
19 Another example, we have very hard winters
20 in this northern part of the state. Some of the small
21 businesses need 5- to $10,000 bridge loans to carry us
22 for the next 90 to 180 days. They require excessive
23 real estate collateral. This is not fair. There are
24 many other examples.
25 It is my understanding that there has been
26 no plan to address the above issues and I don't know if
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1 one is planned.
2 NationsBank, according to a recent
3 advertisement in the Albuquerque Journal, said that it
4 has committed $350 billion to community reinvestment.
5 To citizens of my area, we have not seen a mere
6 investment, much less reinvestment.
7 I, therefore, ask this body to require a
8 lending policy with conditions and commitments that
9 address the banking needs of rural America as a
10 condition for this approval.
11 Lastly, I pray that you not only listen
12 but you also hear my comments. Thank you, God bless
13 America.
14 MS. SMITH: Thank you very much.
15 MR. SANCHEZ: (Unintelligible Navine
16 American Language.)
17 I am J. Gilbert Sanchez. I come from the
18 Pueblo San le Fanso, located in the State of New Mexico.
19 I am here representing myself, the Mexico Alliance and
20 those that could not afford to come here today to give
21 testimony.
22 I open in my Tewa [phonetic] Language as
23 my tradition mandates of me, that is to ask permission,
24 that is by requesting permission from the Federal
25 Reserve Board to address or speak to you.
26 I spoke in Tewa to illustrate to you how
212
1 foreign the bank's and Federal Reserve's language is to
2 me and the common people of the State of New Mexico, and
3 especially to Native Americans.
4 In order to preserve time and not to be
5 repetitious, I will state for the record that I too
6 strongly support the recommendations from my fellow
7 panelists from New Mexico. Those that are present here
8 with me at the moment.
9 I also have as many stories of what has
10 taken place since the mega-mergers have come to be and
11 its impact on our state and the communities.
12 The increase in the number of loan stores
13 that loan on vehicle titles, the number of payday loan
14 shops and the decrease in the number of bank loans in
15 our communities complement each other's in many curious
16 ways.
17 The statistics are there which indicate
18 that we, the minorities in our state, are not extended
19 credit. Credit that is deserving and desired by the
20 community to support economic self-sufficiency.
21 In the bank's offer of $350 billion CRA
22 commitment, I would like to know, just like my fellow
23 panelists, how much of this is going to be coming from
24 New Mexico, especially how much of it will be committed
25 to rural New Mexico and the Native American communities.
26 Too, I will bring forth a couple words
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1 that fears -- that sense fear through any federal agency
2 or agent. I would like to know how the Federal Reserve
3 Board is going to meet basic federal trust
4 responsibility to me and my people, a basic obligation
5 that the president is committed to at the White House
6 Conference with Tribes.
7 I would like to know how this Federal
8 Reserve Board plans to address the negative impacts that
9 mega-mergers will have and are having on Native American
10 people and tribes when mega-mergers are being allowed to
11 continue to happen.
12 As stated, the State of New Mexico, for
13 the last 50 years, enjoyed being 48th in the economic
14 standing of this country. Only recently did it drop to
15 50. When you speak of market-driven decisions, I fear
16 that New Mexico will never be in the running for any of
17 the benefits the Federal Reserve Board's decision might
18 generate.
19 I only have one additional request, and
20 that comes from our communities in North Central New
21 Mexico, the rural Native American communities, the
22 Federal Reserve Board hold a public hearing in New
23 Mexico so truly you can hear the many vast number of
24 stories that are out there pertaining to what is going
25 on in our communities.
26 We being the -- I being part of the first
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1 Americans that came here are the least to benefit from
2 any of the economic standings or any of the economic
3 impacts from anything.
4 I live next to a colony of Californians.
5 Yes, the State of California does have a colony in the
6 State of New Mexico. The benefits that I supposed to be
7 reaping off of them, I do not see. So, when the
8 mega-mergers happen, I do not see any benefits to myself
9 personally, I do not seek them, but I would hope and
10 pray that our economic level will increase if these
11 things are brought forth.
12 Those are the only comments I have. I
13 thank you for your time. Again, would like to hear from
14 Mr. Greenspan as to how he is going to address trust
15 responsibility.
16 MS. SMITH: Thank you very much. Any
17 questions from the panel?
18 MR. FRIERSON: I would just like to say,
19 Mr. Sanchez, that the board will follow the procedure it
20 does in all of these cases in that it will look at all
21 the facts in the record, and the board will explain its
22 decision to you. Whether you agree with it or not, the
23 board will state how it has applied the statutory
24 factors to the particular facts and you will get a copy
25 of that order
26 MR. SANCHEZ: Thank you.
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1 Just one more item for the record, I am
2 here representing myself. I do not represent any Native
3 American government or governments at this point in
4 time.
5 MS. SMITH: Thank you. If there are no
6 questions, I thank you again and we'll move on to the
7 next panel.