Waters Calls for Probe of Lending Practices

U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) has called on banking regulators to investigate data released by the nonprofit Greenlining Institute last month that showed that low-income African Americans receive a disproportionately low percentage of conventional home loans. Waters has called on the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Office of Thrift Supervision and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco to investigate the findings by Greenlining, which is a coalition of church, consumer, civil rights and small-business groups. Bank officials responding to the findings said the lending gap was undeniable and that it was being addressed. However, several banks criticized the report for not including government-insured loans in its tally.