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  • Extension On Royal Bank of Canada - City National Merger Application

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    Royal Bank k of Canada - City National Comment Period Extended, Banks Jumped the Gun By Matthew R. Lee NEW YORK, June 6 -- The largest bank merger recently proposed, that of Royal Bank of Canada and affluent-focused City National Bank, has since April been the subject of a Community Reinvestment Act challenge by Fair Finance Watch. Now the Federal Reserve Board has granted FFW an extension of the comment period on the proposed merger, through June 11, due to RBC improperly withholding information which was subsequently released after a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by Inner City Press. FFW will comment by June 11 - but has submitted to the Fed an objection dated June 6 noting the two banks admitted they are already working together on transactions, without any authorization. FFW on June 6 submitted into the record before the Fed: "RBC, City National off to friendly start ahead of $5.4B takeover Globe and Mail, May 26, 2015 “Royal Bank of Canada won’t complete its $5.4-billion (U.S.) purchase of Los Angeles-based City National Bank for months, but the two banks are already getting a jump on doing business together. City National chief executive officer Russell Goldsmith got a call earlier this month from a long-time customer who wanted speedy approval of a loan worth hundreds of millions of dollars to do an acquisition. “But he was familiar with RBC, knew about the merger and asked whether RBC could help get this done.”“The client knew it was an amount of money beyond what we would normally lend,” the 65-year-old Harvard-educated lawyer said in an interview. Working closely with Blair Fleming, head of RBC’s U.S. capital markets unit, the two banks signed off on the loan within 72 hours. 'It’s typical of what we do,” explained Mr. Goldsmith, whose grandfather co-founded City National in 1954 and whose father, Bram, is chairman emeritus. “We have a relationship [with the client]. …We already had the financial information. So we could do what we needed to do. On top of it, having RBC Capital Markets come into it meant we could do it with greater scale.'” FFW has told the Fed: This is entirely inappropriate and the FRB must act, publicly, before June 11. The comment period must be extended and on the current report, the application must be denied. This all comes after the M&T - Hudson City merger stalled after similar filings by FFW. On Royal Bank of Canada / City National, FFW's filing to the Federal Reserve says City National Bank is known as a bank directed at the (most) affluent. RBC is that as well: In the New York City MSA in 2013, for conventional home purchase loans, RBC made no loans to African Americans or Latinos. It made one loan to a white applicant (for $1.8 million) and six to “race not available” applicants, for a total of over $36 million. RBC Bank (Georgia), in the Atlanta MSA in 2013 for conventional home purchase loans made one such loan to an African American, six to whites, and none to Hispanics. In the Raleigh NC MSA in 2013, RBC Bank (Georgia) made two loans to whites, none to African Americans or Latinos. City National Bank, in the NYC MSA in 2013 for home purchase loans, made no loans to African American or Latino borrowers. It made 10 loans to whites - none denied -- and 35 to “race not available.” By income, there were 36 loans to upper income borrowers, and only one to the other income tranches. City National Bank, in the Los Angeles MSA in 2013 for home purchase loans, made two loans each to African Americans and Latinos. It made fully 45 loans to whites. City National Bank, in the Nashville MSA in 2013 for home purchase loans, made no loans to African American or Latino borrowers. It made one loan to a white borrower - none denied -- and six to “race not available.” FFW contests City National Bank's compliance with HMDA. How is this consistent with the CRA? For the record, RBC previously bumbled in the USA with Centura and Alabama BanCor

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    Royal Bank k of Canada - City National Comment Period Extended, Banks Jumped the Gun By Matthew R. Lee NEW YORK, June 6 -- The largest bank merger recently proposed, that of Royal Bank of Canada and affluent-focused City National Bank, has since April been the subject of a Community Reinvestment Act challenge by Fair Finance Watch. Now the Federal Reserve Board has granted FFW an extension of the comment period on the proposed merger, through June 11, due to RBC improperly withholding information which was subsequently released after a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by Inner City Press. FFW will comment by June 11 - but has submitted to the Fed an objection dated June 6 noting the two banks admitted they are already working together on transactions, without any authorization. FFW on June 6 submitted into the record before the Fed: "RBC, City National off to friendly start ahead of $5.4B takeover Globe and Mail, May 26, 2015 “Royal Bank of Canada won’t complete its $5.4-billion (U.S.) purchase of Los Angeles-based City National Bank for months, but the two banks are already getting a jump on doing business together. City National chief executive officer Russell Goldsmith got a call earlier this month from a long-time customer who wanted speedy approval of a loan worth hundreds of millions of dollars to do an acquisition. “But he was familiar with RBC, knew about the merger and asked whether RBC could help get this done.”“The client knew it was an amount of money beyond what we would normally lend,” the 65-year-old Harvard-educated lawyer said in an interview. Working closely with Blair Fleming, head of RBC’s U.S. capital markets unit, the two banks signed off on the loan within 72 hours. 'It’s typical of what we do,” explained Mr. Goldsmith, whose grandfather co-founded City National in 1954 and whose father, Bram, is chairman emeritus. “We have a relationship [with the client]. …We already had the financial information. So we could do what we needed to do. On top of it, having RBC Capital Markets come into it meant we could do it with greater scale.'” FFW has told the Fed: This is entirely inappropriate and the FRB must act, publicly, before June 11. The comment period must be extended and on the current report, the application must be denied. This all comes after the M&T - Hudson City merger stalled after similar filings by FFW. On Royal Bank of Canada / City National, FFW's filing to the Federal Reserve says City National Bank is known as a bank directed at the (most) affluent. RBC is that as well: In the New York City MSA in 2013, for conventional home purchase loans, RBC made no loans to African Americans or Latinos. It made one loan to a white applicant (for $1.8 million) and six to “race not available” applicants, for a total of over $36 million. RBC Bank (Georgia), in the Atlanta MSA in 2013 for conventional home purchase loans made one such loan to an African American, six to whites, and none to Hispanics. In the Raleigh NC MSA in 2013, RBC Bank (Georgia) made two loans to whites, none to African Americans or Latinos. City National Bank, in the NYC MSA in 2013 for home purchase loans, made no loans to African American or Latino borrowers. It made 10 loans to whites - none denied -- and 35 to “race not available.” By income, there were 36 loans to upper income borrowers, and only one to the other income tranches. City National Bank, in the Los Angeles MSA in 2013 for home purchase loans, made two loans each to African Americans and Latinos. It made fully 45 loans to whites. City National Bank, in the Nashville MSA in 2013 for home purchase loans, made no loans to African American or Latino borrowers. It made one loan to a white borrower - none denied -- and six to “race not available.” FFW contests City National Bank's compliance with HMDA. How is this consistent with the CRA? For the record, RBC previously bumbled in the USA with Centura and Alabama BanCor

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    132 views2 pages

    Extension On Royal Bank of Canada - City National Merger Application

    Uploaded by

    Matthew Russell Lee
    Royal Bank k of Canada - City National Comment Period Extended, Banks Jumped the Gun By Matthew R. Lee NEW YORK, June 6 -- The largest bank merger recently proposed, that of Royal Bank of Canada and affluent-focused City National Bank, has since April been the subject of a Community Reinvestment Act challenge by Fair Finance Watch. Now the Federal Reserve Board has granted FFW an extension of the comment period on the proposed merger, through June 11, due to RBC improperly withholding information which was subsequently released after a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by Inner City Press. FFW will comment by June 11 - but has submitted to the Fed an objection dated June 6 noting the two banks admitted they are already working together on transactions, without any authorization. FFW on June 6 submitted into the record before the Fed: "RBC, City National off to friendly start ahead of $5.4B takeover Globe and Mail, May 26, 2015 “Royal Bank of Canada won’t complete its $5.4-billion (U.S.) purchase of Los Angeles-based City National Bank for months, but the two banks are already getting a jump on doing business together. City National chief executive officer Russell Goldsmith got a call earlier this month from a long-time customer who wanted speedy approval of a loan worth hundreds of millions of dollars to do an acquisition. “But he was familiar with RBC, knew about the merger and asked whether RBC could help get this done.”“The client knew it was an amount of money beyond what we would normally lend,” the 65-year-old Harvard-educated lawyer said in an interview. Working closely with Blair Fleming, head of RBC’s U.S. capital markets unit, the two banks signed off on the loan within 72 hours. 'It’s typical of what we do,” explained Mr. Goldsmith, whose grandfather co-founded City National in 1954 and whose father, Bram, is chairman emeritus. “We have a relationship [with the client]. …We already had the financial information. So we could do what we needed to do. On top of it, having RBC Capital Markets come into it meant we could do it with greater scale.'” FFW has told the Fed: This is entirely inappropriate and the FRB must act, publicly, before June 11. The comment period must be extended and on the current report, the application must be denied. This all comes after the M&T - Hudson City merger stalled after similar filings by FFW. On Royal Bank of Canada / City National, FFW's filing to the Federal Reserve says City National Bank is known as a bank directed at the (most) affluent. RBC is that as well: In the New York City MSA in 2013, for conventional home purchase loans, RBC made no loans to African Americans or Latinos. It made one loan to a white applicant (for $1.8 million) and six to “race not available” applicants, for a total of over $36 million. RBC Bank (Georgia), in the Atlanta MSA in 2013 for conventional home purchase loans made one such loan to an African American, six to whites, and none to Hispanics. In the Raleigh NC MSA in 2013, RBC Bank (Georgia) made two loans to whites, none to African Americans or Latinos. City National Bank, in the NYC MSA in 2013 for home purchase loans, made no loans to African American or Latino borrowers. It made 10 loans to whites - none denied -- and 35 to “race not available.” By income, there were 36 loans to upper income borrowers, and only one to the other income tranches. City National Bank, in the Los Angeles MSA in 2013 for home purchase loans, made two loans each to African Americans and Latinos. It made fully 45 loans to whites. City National Bank, in the Nashville MSA in 2013 for home purchase loans, made no loans to African American or Latino borrowers. It made one loan to a white borrower - none denied -- and six to “race not available.” FFW contests City National Bank's compliance with HMDA. How is this consistent with the CRA? For the record, RBC previously bumbled in the USA with Centura and Alabama BanCor

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    BoAnp of Governors or THe Feperat Reserve System ‘WasitincroN, DC 20551 June 1, 2015 Matthew R. Lee, Esq. Executive Director Inner City Press/Fair Finance Watch P.O. Box 20047 New York, New York 19017 Dear Mr. Lee: ‘This concerns the application filed under section 3 of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 by Royal Bank of Canada, Montreal, Canada, and RBC USA Holdeo Corporation, New York, New York (collectively, “RBC”), to acquire City National Corporation and thereby indirectly acquire its subsidiary bank, City National Bank, both of Los Angeles, California In its application éated March 16, 2015, RBC requested confidential treatment for certain exhibits accompanying the application. By letter dated May 21, 2015, counsel for RBC confirmed that several of these exhibits could be publicly disclosed in their entirety or with limited redactions. Accordingly, you ‘were provided with additional exhibits on May 21, after the expiration of the comment period on April 23, 2015. In light of all the facts of record, the Secretary of the Board, acting pursuant to authority delegated by the Board (12 CFR 265.5(a)(2)), has extended the period for receiving comments rom you regarding this application to the close of business on June 11, 2015. Please note that any comments you submit after the extension period will not bbe made part of the recoid of this proposal unless the Board, in its sole discretion, determines to consider them. Sincerely yours, Dyerqerk Nenad Margene McCloskey Shanks Deputy Secretary of the Board co: Ivan J. Hurwitz, Vice President Federal Reserve Bank of New York Donald J. Toumey, Esq. Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

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