Good Morning. My Name is Mark Winston Griffith and I am the founding Executive Director of 

the Central Brooklyn Partnership and was the founding Chairman of the Board of the Central 

Brooklyn Federal Credit Union. TheI?- sarvesthe-neighorhoods ofFort Greene, Clinton 

Hill, Bedford Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, Brownsville, Prospect Heights, East Flatbush and 

Flatbush. The Partnership 

I have a confession to make. When I first learned of these hearings, I was planning to be out of 

town, out of reach or just plain out. As I saw it, I would have to be out of my mind to show up 

today and testify. No matter what stance I take on what is probably the most important merger 

prospect within the financial services industry since CBA was enacted, r&d my organization are 

sure to be dragged through the mud, one way or. per, as,a result of my testimony. To go on 

record against this proposed merger might b?&cei%d as disnnssmg and betraying the efforts of 

one of the strongest supporters of my organization and of the Community Development Credit 

Union industry)which, of course is Citibank. To advocate fpr_ the merger could risk ignoring some 

glaring threats to consumer interests and more specifically, to my community, an area that has 

endured its own history of betrayal and dismissals. But ultimately, staying home while the future 

of financial services as we know it is to be discussed would be both a disservice to my collegues 

at Citibank and the people of Central Brooklyn. Simply put, too much is at stake and as one of the 

few organizations in Central Brooklyn that has an explicit mandate to serve as community 

reinvestment advocate and watchdog, staying home, now matter how convenient, would be 

irresponsible and ultimately unconscionable. 

I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that Central Brooklyn has been a long standing victim of bank 

redlining, discrimination and disregard. In the nation’s largest black community, in the last ten 

years alone, we have seen twice as many bank branches close as we have seen open. Nationally 

there is one bank branch for every 5,000 people, in Central Brooklyn there is one bank branch for 

every 23,000 people. A now somewhat outdated study of bank lending showed that for every 

dollar deposited in local ban&Ies~~hann:,openny was reinvested back into the community. 

Check cashing operations fIIl&&ord ana in Central Brooklyn there are more than twice as many 

check cashing operation as there are bank branches, 

+-&iuy-e 

Into this aped the Central Brooklyn Partnership in 1991. The Partnership provides 

education and training around financial literacy issues and organizes and advocates o&&&o f%sJ 

community reinvestment issues. The Partnership run~outh Empowerment Program, a 

leadership development and financial education program for young people, the Sisters Lending 

Circle a financial self-sufficiency support group for women who receive public assistance and 

ecomomic justice program which conducts research on local Iinancial patters a$~~$ azeC L cc 

watchdog. In 1993 the Partnership created the Central Brooklyn Federal Credit Union a financial 

cooperative that serves mo& 5000 people who live, wo&%tydo business in Central Brooklyn 

has almost 5 million in assets and has made millions of dollars of loans over the past five years. 

And yet the Credit Union, while one of the largest community development IinanciaI institutions 

in all of New York City, struggles on many different levels to remain healthy and robust in a credit 

parched area. Since the beginning, Citibank has been there for us. As one of our first non 

member investors Citibank helped capitalize the Credit Union and enabled us to make low-interest 
personal and small business loans to our membership almost immediately upon the Credit Union’s 

opening,with i& zero interest deposit of $100,000. Eager to support us in our early growth 

period, Citibank made a grant of $10,000. Over the years we have also received several grants 

for our youth program, participated in a Citibank technical assistance program for not-for-profit 

community developers and have turned to people like Janet Thompson for advice And as you 

know through the testimony of the National Federation of Community Development Credit 

Unions, Citibank has made a sizable investmunnt in community development credjhm$rszFn 

wide and Central Brooklyn is scheduled to receive a $55,000 Citibank equity grant. ‘And, -p 

depending on how Citibank responds to the rest of my testimony, I plan to make additional 

requests for grants for the Partnership and deposits for the Credit Union. 

Unequivocally, Citibank has been a leader ,amiyJ_ partner in our organizational effort to rebuild 

the economy of Central Brooklyn. But &lle my organization quickly turns Citibanks investments 

in the Partnership into instruments that vastly improve the quality of people’s lives, it would be 

arrogant and narrow-minded to conclude that meeting organizational needs I%ills a financial 

institutions obligation to the people of low and moderate income neighborhoods. Let’s be real, 

Community Reinvestment and the consideration of mergers is not just about measuring a bank’s 

support of neighborhood based community-based efforts, no matter how impressive. Its also 

more importantly about the quality, accessibility and affordabiiilty of a banks financial products 

. . and what the sum of this proposed merger’s parts mean for the tinme survtvrbmty of my 

community. On that count I have deep-seated fears and reservations. I am concerned that 

Citibank’s record of mortgage-lending, once the best in Central Brooklyn has fallen precipitously 

over the last ten years. I am concerned with Citibank’s growing complacency in my 

neighborhood and its most recent failure to participate in an important tImc.haising consortium to 

support the Credit Union because it placed more value on its rivalry with Chase than on the future 

of my institution and the people it serves. I am concerned with Citibank’s prohitively high fees for 

its consumer retail services such as checking where there is no low-to-mid-range pricing between 

life-line and the ridiculously expensive no-fee checking. I am concerned that Citibank’s 

increasingly global banking strategy is coming at the expense of communities like Central 

Brooklyn and that this merger will make them even less focused on our needs. I am deeply 

suspicious of any community reinvestment pledge, 115 billion or otherwise, made while a merger 

is being considered. And I am disgusted at the way this proposed merger, which at this moment 

in time is illegal, has been treated as a foregone conclusion possibly turning this hearing into a 

cynical exercise of yet again watching the restless natives jump up and down and shout ugahbugah. I think that ACORN had the right idea yesterday when they came in here, shut the place 

down for moment, and made us consider whether we even have the slightest bit of power to affect 

the direction of this monumental decision. 

I for one am not going to go home and passively sit by while the fate of my community is 

relegated to a deal cut in a corporate hallway. I again acknowledge Citibank’s financial support 

of Central Brooklyn through my two organizations, one of which makes loans to people that 

every other lender has abondoned. This is a testament to Citibank’s community reinvestment 

record and I bear witness. God knows I hope this support continues and that Citibank approves 

the grant and deposit request that I plan to submit next week. But at the risk of sounding 

ungrateful, that’s not enough. My recommendations are simple and broad: I challenge Citibank to 
either be a more aggressive supporter of community development, make more mortgage and small 

business loans in my neighorbood and provide products that can be more widely used by people 

of low and moderate income or give up its merger plans. I know you have the power and 

resources. Use them. I challenge the Federal Reserve to enforce this, set higher standards for the 

consumation of this merger proposal and not be seduced or rolled over by the seeming 

inevitabililty of this deal Don’t sacrifice my neighborhood for the sake of making financial 

history. 
Citibank HMDA 

Home Mortgage Lending 

by Income Level 

SOURCE: Citibank’s 1996 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act 

(HMDA) data for New York City Metropolitan Statistical Area