Household HSBC Watch

Mon Jun 20, 2005 06:48 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal judge refused on Monday to grant a temporary restraining order that would have stopped New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer from investigating large U.S. banks for their lending practices to minorities.
The order was sought by The Clearing House Association of 11 banks and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), which are suing Spitzer’s office on grounds that states do not have jurisdiction over national banks.

Judge Sidney Stein in the Southern District of New York handed Spitzer a symbolic victory by allowing his probe to continue despite the suits.

Eight of the 11 banks are federally chartered national banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Citigroup (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , Deutsche Bank AG (DBKGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) , Wachovia Corp. (WB.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , Bank of America Corp. (BAC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and The Bank of New York Co.(BJK.N: Quote, Profile, Research)

At least three of the Clearing House banks — JP Morgan, Wells Fargo and HSBC Holdings (0005.HK: Quote, Profile, Research) — are being investigated by Spitzer over the terms and conditions under which they lend minorities.