Trustmark National Bank (“Trustmark” or the “Company”), a
wholly-owned subsidiary of Trustmark Corporation (NASDAQGS:TRMK),
today announced it has entered into settlements with the U.S.
Department of Justice (“DOJ”), the Office of the Comptroller of the
Currency (“OCC”) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
(“CFPB”) to resolve allegations that it previously violated the
Fair Housing Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and the Consumer
Financial Protection Act within the Memphis metropolitan
statistical area (“Memphis MSA”).
"We believe Trustmark’s commitment to fair lending and
continuing efforts to provide equal access to affordable mortgage
products in the Memphis area and communities across our footprint
are reflected in our diverse-market lending strategies,” said Duane
A. Dewey, Trustmark President and CEO. “We fully cooperated with
the agencies and have entered into these settlements to avoid the
distraction of protracted litigation and because we share the
common goals of breaking down barriers to home financing and
exploring innovative ways to help residents of underserved areas
achieve the dream of homeownership. We look forward to making
continued progress on the lending initiatives and operational
enhancements we began implementing six years ago.”
Mr. Dewey continued, “Trustmark has always viewed customer
relationships and community engagement as keys to long-term
success. As a service-oriented and values-guided organization,
we’re committed to serving the entirety of our communities and have
continually worked to expand access to credit and banking services
through the full range of consumer and small business credit
products that we offer.”
The alleged conduct occurred during the period 2014 to 2016,
according to the OCC, and a somewhat longer period for the other
two agencies. For many years, Trustmark has been evaluating its
performance in majority-minority census tracts (“MMCTs”), including
in the Memphis MSA, and proactively developing and implementing
enterprise-wide initiatives designed to serve these
communities:
- Trustmark’s Advantage program addresses gaps in investor and
government mortgage programs that focus on the credit needs of MMCT
residents. The Company launched its proprietary first-lien mortgage
product, HOMEAdvantage, in 2016 to assist applicants in overcoming
common barriers that often prevent them from qualifying for
financing under traditional products. The program, available only
to residents of MMCTs, low- and moderate-income census tracts and
low- and moderate-income borrowers, also includes the True
Advantage loan (which provides financing for home improvements and
repairs) and the Plus loan (which provides financing for down
payment, closing costs or other needs related to home
purchases).
- Trustmark has also introduced down payment assistance programs
and loan subsidies to assist residents in MMCT communities overcome
obstacles to obtaining mortgage financing.
- Trustmark has invested in specialized personnel and systems
dedicated to business generation in diverse markets. For example,
the Company’s Community Lending Specialist (“CLS”) program creates
specialized mortgage loan officer positions designed to serve the
needs of MMCT residents. Trustmark currently has three CLS’s in the
Memphis market, in addition to a Community Lending Manager and a
Community Development Manager–Memphis.
- Through its collaboration with Operation HOPE, a global
nonprofit focused on disrupting poverty and empowering inclusion
for underserved communities, and in partnership with the City of
Memphis, Trustmark provides a trained financial coach within its
Poplar Plaza branch in the City of Memphis to deliver counseling
and workshops to area residents and all city employees.
Mr. Dewey continued, “Trustmark has built a solid reputation
throughout the Southeast United States as a reliable and
trustworthy banking partner, and we embrace continuous change to
better serve our customers and communities.”
Under the DOJ/CFPB Consent Order, Trustmark will pay a civil
money penalty totaling $5 million, of which $4 million will satisfy
the OCC’s civil money penalty order and the remaining $1 million
will be paid to the CFPB. The DOJ/CFPB Consent Order also provides
that Trustmark will invest a total of $3.85 million over five years
in a loan subsidy fund to increase mortgage lending opportunities
to Memphis residents in majority Black and Hispanic census tracts
(“MBHCTs”) and will devote a total of $200,000 annually over five
years to advertising, community outreach and credit and financial
education services. In addition, over the next five years,
Trustmark will invest $400,000 in its community development
partnerships to support services related to credit, financial
education, homeownership, and foreclosure prevention that benefit
residents of MBHCTs in the Memphis market. The Company will also
open a loan production office to serve the mortgage lending needs
of residents in a MBHCT in the Memphis MSA.
The proposed DOJ/CFPB Consent Order must be approved by the U.S.
District Court for the Western District of Tennessee.
About Trustmark
Trustmark Corporation is a financial services company providing
banking and financial solutions through 180 offices in Alabama,
Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas. Visit trustmark.com for
additional information.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this document constitute
forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify
forward-looking statements by words such as “may,” “hope,” “will,”
“should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “believe,”
“estimate,” “predict,” “project,” “potential,” “seek,” “continue,”
“could,” “would,” “future” or the negative of those terms or other
words of similar meaning. You should read statements that contain
these words carefully because they discuss our future expectations
or state other “forward-looking” information. These forward-looking
statements include, but are not limited to, statements relating to
anticipated future operating and financial performance measures,
including net interest margin, credit quality, business
initiatives, growth opportunities and growth rates, among other
things, and encompass any estimate, prediction, expectation,
projection, opinion, anticipation, outlook or statement of belief
included therein as well as the management assumptions underlying
these forward-looking statements. You should be aware that the
occurrence of the events described under the caption “Risk Factors”
in Trustmark’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC) could have an adverse effect on our business, results of
operations and financial condition. Should one or more of these
risks materialize, or should any such underlying assumptions prove
to be significantly different, actual results may vary
significantly from those anticipated, estimated, projected or
expected. Furthermore, many of these risks and uncertainties are
currently amplified by and may continue to be amplified by or may,
in the future, be amplified by, the novel coronavirus (COVID-19)
pandemic, and also by the effectiveness of varying governmental
responses in ameliorating the impact of the pandemic on our
customers and the economies where they operate.
Risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from
current expectations of Management include, but are not limited to,
changes in the level of nonperforming assets and charge-offs, an
increase in unemployment levels and slowdowns in economic growth,
our ability to manage the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our
markets and our customers, as well as the effectiveness of actions
of federal, state and local governments and agencies (including the
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB)) to mitigate
its spread and economic impact, local, state and national economic
and market conditions, conditions in the housing and real estate
markets in the regions in which Trustmark operates and the extent
and duration of the current volatility in the credit and financial
markets, levels of and volatility in crude oil prices, changes in
our ability to measure the fair value of assets in our portfolio,
material changes in the level and/or volatility of market interest
rates, the performance and demand for the products and services we
offer, including the level and timing of withdrawals from our
deposit accounts, the costs and effects of litigation and of
unexpected or adverse outcomes in such litigation, our ability to
attract noninterest-bearing deposits and other low-cost funds,
competition in loan and deposit pricing, as well as the entry of
new competitors into our markets through de novo expansion and
acquisitions, economic conditions, including the potential impact
of issues related to the European financial system and monetary and
other governmental actions designed to address credit, securities,
and/or commodity markets, the enactment of legislation and changes
in existing regulations or enforcement practices or the adoption of
new regulations, changes in accounting standards and practices,
including changes in the interpretation of existing standards, that
affect our consolidated financial statements, changes in consumer
spending, borrowings and savings habits, technological changes,
changes in the financial performance or condition of our borrowers,
changes in our ability to control expenses, greater than expected
costs or difficulties related to the integration of acquisitions or
new products and lines of business, cyber-attacks and other
breaches which could affect our information system security,
natural disasters, environmental disasters, pandemics or other
health crises, acts of war or terrorism, and other risks described
in our filings with the SEC.
Although we believe that the expectations reflected in such
forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance
that such expectations will prove to be correct. Except as required
by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise any of this
information, whether as the result of new information, future
events or developments or otherwise.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211022005427/en/
Media Contacts Melanie A. Morgan Director of Corporate
Communications & Marketing 601.208.2979
mmorgan@trustmark.com
Investor Contacts Thomas C. Owens EVP and Chief Financial
Officer 601.208.7853 towens@trustmark.com
F. Joseph Rein, Jr. Director of Corporate Strategy 601.208.6898
jrein@trustmark.com
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