Delauro Calls for Public Hearing on Proposed Bank Merger

Washington, DC— Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-3) expressed her support today for a public hearing regarding the proposed First Niagara Financial Group's application to acquire New Alliance Bancshares. The City of New Haven has asked for a public hearing to discuss citizens' concerns about the implications of this merger, specifically its impact on obtaining loans and community initiatives.

Congresswoman DeLauro sent a letter to Ivan Hurwitz, Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, last week urging him to consider the request for a public hearing.

"A great number of people in New Haven are deeply concerned that this merger will reduce the amount of lending to the underserved parts of our community -- including small businesses, non-profits, and low and moderate-income individuals, and result in significant job loss. Smaller community banks have historically been a great asset to communities and particularly in these past two years as they largely avoided making risky decisions heading into this economic crisis and continued to make credit available," said Congresswoman DeLauro. "I strongly urge the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to take the City of New Haven's concerns seriously, and to hold a public hearing as soon as possible."

The text of the letter is below.

December 1, 2010

Mr. Ivan Hurwitz

Vice President

Federal Reserve Bank of New York

33 Liberty Street

New York, NY 10045

Dear Mr. Hurwitz:

I write in strong support of the City of New Haven's request for a public hearing on First Niagara Financial Group's application to acquire New Alliance Bancshares.

Earlier this fall, I was actively engaged with City officials and community leaders about how this merger would serve the local economy, the difficulties local people would face in obtaining loans, and the implications of support for community initiatives being reviewed out of state. As the City aptly argued in its recent letter to you, a great number of people in New Haven are deeply concerned that this merger will reduce the amount of lending to the underserved parts of our community -- including small businesses, non-profits, and low and moderate-income individuals, and result in significant job loss. As you know, smaller community banks have historically been a great asset to communities and particularly in these past two years as they largely avoided making risky decisions heading into this economic crisis and continued to make credit available. Accordingly, losing local decision making on close to $9 billion is very concerning.

I also want to share my personal experience with the creation of New Alliance Bancshares in 2004. When the community first learned about the merger of New Haven Savings Bank, the savings Bank of Manchester and Tolland Bank, there was a sense of trepidation and fear from the customers each served. While I understand the process now, as it did then, calls for written testimony to be submitted in favor or against the proposal, it is my view that not everyone in the community is capable of doing so and an oral hearing would be the only way in which some of my constituents would be able to have their opinion considered. Furthermore, such testimony is critical to understanding the true repercussions of the potential tightening of credit and job loss that could take place in the community. The hearing had a positive impact on the process in 2004 and I hope that can be the case again.

Thank you for your consideration of this important request. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need any additional information or if I may be of any assistance in helping you gather information from the community about the need for an oral hearing.

Sincerely,

ROSA L. DELAURO

Member of Congress