Nearly half of the 200 lenders identified by the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data for possible fair-lending violations are independent mortgage banks, according to a Federal Reserve Board official.Speaking at a Consumer Bankers Association fair-lending conference in Washington, Fed senior adviser Glenn Canner also noted that most of the 200 lenders (who have been notified that they will have to explain their lending practices to regulators) operate nationally and accounted for 48% of owner-occupied HMDA-reported loans in 2004. Mr. Canner said the independent mortgage banks were referred to the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development for further review. The rest of the 200 lenders are depository institutions, and they are being examined by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and the Fed. Only two lenders are credit unions. The Fed, which began notifying banks on its list back in June, officially released its 2004 HMDA data in early September.
