Two former employees of Regions Bank, Birmingham, Ala., have been barred from future participation in the affairs of any federally insured financial institution over improper practices regarding credit origination, the Federal Reserve Board said Tuesday.
Nathaniel Frazier, the bank’s former branch manager, between Feb. 27, 2013, and March 31, 2017, is alleged to have improperly inflated at least nine credit applicants’ reported income for stated-income products, such as credit cards and personal loans, to qualify applicants for products for which they would otherwise not qualify, and encouraged his subordinates at Regions to engage in such practices. Jeffrey Garrison, a former financial services specialist,between July 20, 2015, and March 7, 2017, is alleged to have improperly inflated at least 10 credit applicants’ reported income to qualify them for products.
Under consent orders, both Frazier and Garrison have agreed to “fully cooperate with and provide substantial assistance” to the Fed Board in connection with investigations of whether enforcement action should be taken against others.
The Fed also said it terminated an April 2009 enforcement order against Hometown Bancshares, Inc., Carthage, Mo., a bank holding company that owns and controls Hometown Bank and various nonbank subsidiaries. The enforcement order, focusing on safety-and-soundness concerns, was terminated May 16.