tfeltner at woodstockinst
12-18-2006, 09:54 AM
Full Disclosure
Why Bank Transparency Matters: a Comparison of the U.S. and the U.K.
*
This new report issued by the New Economics Foundation in London, England,
and Woodstock Institute in Chicago, shows the huge disparity in the amount
of bank performance data from lower-income neighborhoods available in the
U.S. and the U.K.* This disparity is most stark when considering available
data on mortgage lending and small business lending patterns in underserved
lower-income and minority neighborhoods.* To illustrate these differences,
the report describes the data provided by two banks belonging to the same
bank holding company.* The U.S. case study uses data from Charter One Bank
in Chicago, the U.K. case study data from Charter One’s parent bank, Royal
Bank of Scotland in Manchester.*
The report concludes:
*
• Banking services are a central part of tackling financial exclusion in
lower-income communities
*
• Full disclosure allows for assessments of who the banks are reaching and
who remains outside of the banking system.
*
• Without area-based bank disclosure, communities are in the dark as to how
their savings and resources are being invested.*
*
In the forward to the report, Sir Ronald Cohen, a leading European venture
capitalist, and chairman of the U.K. Social Investment Taskforce, questions
the current British reliance on voluntary bank disclosure.* Co-author of the
report, Geoff Smith, comments that while the report shows that mandatory
disclosure in the U.S. results in far more useful data than reliance on
voluntary data produces in the U.K., there are large gaps in the U.S.
system.* “At the very least”, he said, “we need small business disclosure at
the loan level as we have for mortgage data, since small business activity
is critical to the economies of lower-income communities.”* Woodstock’s
president, Malcolm Bush added, “The U.S. data disclosure system has not kept
up with changes in the very dynamic financial services sector.* It is
critical to extend disclosure and indeed Community Reinvestment Act
responsibilities to all financial institutions that provide bank-like
services including independent mortgage companies and credit unions.*
*
The full report is available at:*
*
http://www.woodstockinst.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&g
id=651
*
---
Tom Feltner
Communications/Development Associate
Woodstock Institute
407 S Dearborn Suite 550
Chicago, Illinois 60605
(312) 427-8070 tel
(312) 427-4007 fax
www.woodstockinstitute.org
*
This post transferred from the cdb-l mailing list
Why Bank Transparency Matters: a Comparison of the U.S. and the U.K.
*
This new report issued by the New Economics Foundation in London, England,
and Woodstock Institute in Chicago, shows the huge disparity in the amount
of bank performance data from lower-income neighborhoods available in the
U.S. and the U.K.* This disparity is most stark when considering available
data on mortgage lending and small business lending patterns in underserved
lower-income and minority neighborhoods.* To illustrate these differences,
the report describes the data provided by two banks belonging to the same
bank holding company.* The U.S. case study uses data from Charter One Bank
in Chicago, the U.K. case study data from Charter One’s parent bank, Royal
Bank of Scotland in Manchester.*
The report concludes:
*
• Banking services are a central part of tackling financial exclusion in
lower-income communities
*
• Full disclosure allows for assessments of who the banks are reaching and
who remains outside of the banking system.
*
• Without area-based bank disclosure, communities are in the dark as to how
their savings and resources are being invested.*
*
In the forward to the report, Sir Ronald Cohen, a leading European venture
capitalist, and chairman of the U.K. Social Investment Taskforce, questions
the current British reliance on voluntary bank disclosure.* Co-author of the
report, Geoff Smith, comments that while the report shows that mandatory
disclosure in the U.S. results in far more useful data than reliance on
voluntary data produces in the U.K., there are large gaps in the U.S.
system.* “At the very least”, he said, “we need small business disclosure at
the loan level as we have for mortgage data, since small business activity
is critical to the economies of lower-income communities.”* Woodstock’s
president, Malcolm Bush added, “The U.S. data disclosure system has not kept
up with changes in the very dynamic financial services sector.* It is
critical to extend disclosure and indeed Community Reinvestment Act
responsibilities to all financial institutions that provide bank-like
services including independent mortgage companies and credit unions.*
*
The full report is available at:*
*
http://www.woodstockinst.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&g
id=651
*
---
Tom Feltner
Communications/Development Associate
Woodstock Institute
407 S Dearborn Suite 550
Chicago, Illinois 60605
(312) 427-8070 tel
(312) 427-4007 fax
www.woodstockinstitute.org
*
This post transferred from the cdb-l mailing list