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Senate strips core transparency requirements during Sunshine Week

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Kristen Clarke, President and Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, issued the following statement Thursday after the Senate voted late Wednesday to pass legislation to weaken critical banking reforms enacted following the 2008 financial crisis:

“By passing the Bank Lobbyist Act, the Senate has failed communities of color throughout the country who continue to experience pervasive lending discrimination.  As the Senate commemorates Sunshine Week, a time to recognize the importance of transparency and openness, it is especially troubling that the chamber moved today to rollback important reporting requirements under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) to track mortgage lending and denials by race and ethnicity.

“Now more than ever, financial institutions including small banks and credit unions must be transparent about how they do business and to whom they are lending.  We need more information, not less, to root out discriminatory mortgage lending practices that harm families of color and contribute to the growing racial wealth gap.”