We ask the FDIC not to approve the application from KMD Partners, LLC to acquire Liberty Bank, Inc. (Salt Lake City, Utah), including acquiring control of the bank.
The change in control presents three fundamental problems: First, Liberty Bank has itself demonstrated a poor record of meeting its community reinvestment obligations. Second, KMD Partners is the parent company of a high-cost lender, and the acquisition runs the risk of federally insured deposits being used for or in conjunction with risky predatory lending. Third, KMD may use the ability to export Utah’s non-existent interest rate limits to other states in order to expand high-cost lending to places with interest rate caps that are below the rates that KMD’s subsidiaries charge.
The FDIC should deny this application.