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ING merger foes want bank philanthropy standards

by William McConnell  |  Published February 16, 2012 at 3:42 PM
Two days after the Federal Reserve Board approved Capital One Financial Corp.'s $9 billion purchase of Netherlands-based ING Groep NV's U.S. online banking division, an advocacy group is calling for tougher standards for considering a banking organization's charitable donations toward its compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act and with new public interest requirements of the Dodd-Frank Act.

CRA requires banks to lend into their local markets. The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy urged federal bank regulators to set "concrete standards" for evaluating banks' claims about their philanthropic efforts when seeking merger approvals.

The Fed's Tuesday, Feb. 14, merger approval noted that other commenters praised Capital One's charitable contributions and the willingness of its employees to serve as board members and volunteers for community organizations. But NCRP criticized Capital One's philanthropic record and dismissed the bank's claims that it would increase giving post-merger.

"While we applaud legitimate philanthropy by banks and their foundations and hope to see more of it, a bank should not be allowed to make exaggerated claims about its past philanthropy and hazy promises about future largesse to obtain approval of a proposed merger," NCRP executive director Aaron Dorfman said.

NCRP is calling for giving to be detailed in financial reports or tax filings and for standards on the amount of donations relative to an institution's size and on the effectiveness of donations.
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Tags: Aaron Dorfman | Capital One | Capital One Financial Corp. | Community Reinvestment Act | CRA | Dodd-Frank Act | Federal Reserve Board | ING Groep NV | National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy | online banking
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