Redlining

The Government Accountability Office said that examiner guidance at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency didn’t take into account new statistical methods to uncover potential redlining.

Questionnaires sent to banks in recent months seek information about loans to same-sex couples, women on maternity leave and people with limited English proficiency. Industry executives and attorneys say the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may be offering hints about specific types of fair-lending cases it could pursue.

The state joins Illinois and Massachusetts in subjecting nondepository companies to state-level Community Reinvestment Act requirements.

A crackdown is coming at a particularly awkward time for the financial industry: bankers are pressing government authorities to approve mergers and acquisitions at one of the fastest clips since the 2008 financial crisis and to get their paydays linked to those deals, more executives may feel pressure to resolve government claims.

Trustmark Bank agreed to pay $9 million to resolve allegations that it discriminated against Black and Hispanic residents in Memphis, Tennessee. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Department of Justice and other agencies will continue their crackdown.

An Indiana housing nonprofit wants the Fed to take a closer look at the proposed merger. Its latest move is a lawsuit that alleges racial discrimination by the regional bank.

The Houston company has agreed to pay a $3 million penalty, provide $4 million in loan subsidies to new borrowers and make other investments aimed at improving home buying opportunities for Black and Hispanic households.

Six online lenders and the National Community Reinvestment Coalition have asked the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for clarity on whether disparate-impact rules apply to lending decisions made by machines.

As global warming intensifies storms and flooding, formerly redlined neighborhoods with majority BIPOC occupants will likely bear the brunt of the damage risk, according to a Redfin analysis.

State financial regulators cited Buffalo-based Hunt Mortgage Corp. on Thursday for weakness in lending to minorities and minority neighborhoods, as they released a report finding an overall lack of lending by nonbank mortgage companies in Buffalo despite laws banning the practice of redlining.