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Bank / Community Benefits Agreements – Game Changer or Consolation Prize?

Join us for a virtual Brown Bag Lunch discussion with experts who have relevant banking, regulatory, legal, fair housing, advocacy and policy experience – including the head of a fair housing organization that sued a large national bank for fair lending violations and the leader of a non-profit coalition that protested a bank merger that resulted in a community benefits agreement – both within the last 12 months.

Roundtable Participants (from left, above):
Amy Nelson, Executive Director of the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana, Indianapolis IN
Calvin Bradford, President of Calvin Bradford & Associates Ltd., Evanston IL
Elisabeth Risch, Executive Director of Housing Opportunities Made Equal, Cincinnati OH
Sharon Legenza, Executive Director of Housing Action Illinois, Chicago IL
Moderator, Horacio Mendez, President & Chief Executive Officer of the Woodstock Institute, Chicago IL

Banks are merging at an unprecedented rate. The Federal Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (CRA) requires that the bank regulatory agencies take each institutions’ record of providing financial services to their community, as well as public comments, into consideration when making a decision to approve or decline an application to acquire or merge.

As such, these applications provide an opportunity for consumer advocates, fair lending agencies, community organizations and others to have a conversation with each institution about their performance, their impact, and how they can do better. 

Often this results in a Community Benefits Agreement between the bank and advocates. It also creates an opportunity to talk with the bank regulatory agencies about how well (or not) they hold their institutions accountable for fair lending, redlining and other discriminatory behavior.

May 11, 2022 12:00 PM in Central Time (US and Canada)