in investigations and journalism regarding human rights transparency corporate accountability community reinvestment predatory lending environmental justice fair housing social exclusion and related topics . inner city press covers and where applicable is accredited media at the united nations the u.s. federal reserve board banking and insurance regulatory agencies the federal communications commission and various courts . click here for daily un reporting on innercitypress.com history inner city press community on the move icp is a non profit community consumers and human rights organization headquartered in the south bronx of new york city engaged in cutting edge advocacy reporting and organizing in the fields of community reinvestment fair access to credit insurance and telecommunications environmental justice and government and corporate human rights accountability . click here for some recent news about our work . the more recently formed inner city public interest law center engages in litigation and administrative advocacy around these issues including collaborating with or providing legal representation to other grassroots groups . click here for some recent news about our work . click here for a brief description of some of our current campaigns some of the most recent of which are summarized on our bank beat page and in our cra reporter both are updated at least weekly . in 2005 icp is engaged among other things in a nationwide campaign regarding banks funding of high cost fringe financiers . see e.g. the 2004 announcement of suntrust in response to icp s comments that it will cease such lending . in terms of international human rights in 2006 icp s fair finance watch is pursuing justice on pnc and riggs bank its money laundering for augusto pinochet and the dictotor of equatorial guinea . also deutsche bank s dealings with turkmenistan are also being spotlighted . for more information or to get involved contact us . this web site provides information resources and reporting on these and other issues including creative writing and investigative journalism as a successor to icp s initial newspaper publication . icp has published a double book on the topic of predatory lending . the pittsburgh city paper of dec. 11 2003 says that the novel predatory bender a story of subprime finance may in fact be the first great american lending malfeasance novel . click here for that review ; click here for sample chapters an interactive map and ordering information . click here for a more colloquial presentation in question and answer format . icp was founded in 1987 in the south bronx by families who were in need of housing and undertook repairing abandoned buildings to make that housing . from the beginning the group published a bi monthly newspaper inner city press la prensa del pueblo . as more and more people joined the icp homesteaders association the group took on other issues of concern in the south bronx and other low income neighborhoods the difficulty of access to credit and financial services disproportionate exposure to toxic and hazardous waste lack of accountability from government agencies and elected officials police brutality in short injustice and exclusion . one of icp s main focuses is enforcement of the community reinvestment act cra a federal law enacted in 1977 to require banks to fairly serve low and moderate income neighborhoods . the cra is enforced by challenging banks merger and expansion applications documenting the banks failure to serve poor communities . in 1992 icp challenged an acquisition proposal by the bank of new york based on that bank s exclusion of the south bronx and harlem from its service area . icp prevailed the bank expanded its service territory to include the bronx and harlem and in 1993 committed 5 million in loans to the areas . in 1994 after having discussed this precedent with other nyc banks which similarly excluded the bronx but having seen few changes icp challenged the expansion applications of five more banks . to resolve these challenges two banks dime savings and natwest now fleet opened new bank branches in the south bronx for first new branches here in twenty years . two other banks marine midland and republic opened new loan production offices in the bronx ; the other bank first fidelity now first union committed 15 million in new lending to the south bronx . these successes were widely reported ; icp s work was profiled on abc news nightline program on april 10 1995 transcript 3621 . as word of icp s successful enforcement of the cra spread other community groups and consumers began to contact icp for advice and assistance . icp began to collaborate with groups in other states on cra challenges for example to bank one nationsbank now bank of america first union and others . to formalize this work and icp s emerging environmental and telecommunications advocacy which has included successful challenges to media mergers in 1998 we founded the inner city public interest law center icpilc with icp s initial executive director becoming the general counsel of the icpilc . in 1998 representing the delaware community reinvestment action council icpilc obtained in one case a commitment of 3 billion in lending to low and moderate income borrowers and precedent setting fair lending protections . later in 1998 icpilc obtained a commitment of 1 billion in lending to low and moderate income borrowers and further fair lending commitments from charter one of cleveland ohio . icp is currently engaged in advocacy around various insurance companies applications for savings bank charters and in questioning the proposed merger of bankers trust and deutsche bank based on bankers trust s involvement in high interest rate predatory mortgage lending . in 1999 icp won several more important cra precedents . one involved the investment bank lehman brothers which sought to acquire the failing delaware savings bank with scarcely a cra plan in place and while being active in underwriting the mortgage backed securities of various subprime lenders including delta funding which was sued by nys authorities for predatory lending . after icp s and dcrac s comments the ots encouraged lehman brothers to pledge 2.2 billion in low and moderate income lending and to identify and avoid predatory lending practices including in the loan pools lehman does the underwriting for . another joint icp dcrac protest ended with gmac pledging 6 billion in low and moderate income lending . icp advocates for the appropriate application of cra to internet banks see icp s hot issues page for more . now in 2005 icp is engaged in a nationwide campaign regarding banks funding of high cost fringe financiers . see e.g. the 2004 announcement of suntrust in response to icp s comments that it will cease such lending . icp is also focused on jpm chase wachovia bank of america . wells fargo and others including it goes without saying citigroup and hsbc . in 2003 icp ffw revived its aig watch regarding japan . in late april 2003 icp began a ge watch of ge capital ge consumer finance and general electric . from november 2002 onwards icp has campagined against the combination of hsbc and household international . from june 3 2002 onwards icp filed evidence against citigroup s application to acquire golden state bancorp. on october 15 2001 icp filed comments on washington mutual s application to acquire dime bancorp and dime savings bank . following september 11 2001 we began a finance watch on issues of money laundering and bank accountability generally . icp on july 24 2000 began an ongoing citigroup accountability project . beginning november 6 2000 see our j.p. morgan chase watch . other ongoing pages are our wells fargo watch page our u.s. bancorp watch page our fleet watch page our wachovia watch page and more globally that is beyond the u.s. our deutsche bank watch page our hsbc watch page our mizuho watch page our royal bank of canada watch etc. ... in terms of international human rights in 2005 icp and ffw are pursuing justice on pnc and riggs bank its money laundering for augusto pinochet and the dictotor of equatorial guinea . also deutsche bank s dealings with turkmenistan are also being spotlighted . icp is also engaged in a number of open government campaigns for example against the federal reserve board for that agency s refusal to comply with the freedom of information act and other rudiments of fair procedures . click here to view icp s freedom of information guide . this website has sub pages on a variety of issues cra insurance redlining environmental justice telecommunications advocacy arts and culture . we welcome your suggestions or comments on this website or on our work . click here for five different ways to contact us . thank you for your interest . how to contact us site map search this site inner city press community reinvestment reporter global inner cities citigroup watch inner city reporter bank beat inner city poetry community reinvestment environmental justice insurance redlining in the bronx fcc telecommunications about inner city press inner city arts & culture inner city housing icp s freedom of information guide links resources frequently asked questions the inner city reporter s federal reserve beat privacy policy for the media inner city public interest law centerwhat s new on site reporting from the united nations these pages copyright 1999 2007 inner city press community on the move inc. and inner city public interest law center . all rights reserved . for further information or to request reprint or other permission contact permissions coordinator legal administration inner city press p.o. box 580188 mount carmel station bronx ny 10458 . phone 718 716 3540 . e mail webstaff at innercitypress.org