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Two activist groups want regulators to investigate whether OneWest Bank used philanthropic contributions to win the support of community organizations. But this could set a precedent that would discourage banks from making much-needed donations.
March 16 -
Amid heartbreaking tales told by distressed homeowners and reverse mortgage holders, many community groups praised OneWest CEO Joseph Otting for spending time speaking to them and hearing their communities' concerns.
February 26 -
He could have easily shunned the spotlight after leaving Merrill Lynch, but instead John Thain accepted the challenge of reviving the troubled CIT Group. By all measures he's succeeded, cementing his reputation as a fixer, but the job is hardly complete. Next up: transforming the commercial lender into a traditional regional bank through its closely watched acquisition of OneWest Bank.
March 29 -
A government tool for unloading failed bank assets and minimizing FDIC losses may be used as a vehicle to publicly subsidize private gains in the proposed merger between CIT Group and OneWest Bank.
November 20
The California Reinvestment Coalition has called for a federal investigation into the foreclosure policies of OneWest Bank in minority neighborhoods.
The San Francisco group said that its investigation raised "serious red flags" about mortgage servicing at the $21 billion-asset OneWest. The bank has conducted more than 35,000 foreclosures in California in the last six years. Data compared with U.S. Census data and maps revealed a high concentration of the foreclosures were in "communities of color," the group said.
Among OneWest's total foreclosures in California, 68% were conducted in zip codes where at least half the population is nonwhite.
"OneWest's mortgage servicing has been widely criticized and these data increase our concerns that bad servicing practices may have had an outsized impact on communities of color," Kevin Stein, associate director of the California Reinvestment Coalition, said in a Tuesday press release.
The $21 billion-asset CIT Group has agreed to acquire OneWest for $3.4 billion.
