A Tuesday, July 14, 2009 article in American Banker quoted John F. Cooney, a partner in Venable's Banking and Financial Services Practice Group, on the June 29th U.S. Supreme Court decision in Cuomo v. Clearing House. The decision, which allows states some consumer protection enforcement over national banks, said that states can investigate national banks for discrimination and other crimes, but only with a court's help.
According to the article, the New York Attorney General requested bank loan data after suspicions arose about discrimination based on HMDA data. The court did not address whether HMDA data was enough to request additional data, but did take issue with how the Attorney General went about trying to get more information, saying he should have pursued the data in court.
Cooney said it is still unclear if HMDA data is enough.
"I suspect raw data would probably not be enough," he said. "There would be cases where the HMDA data would be close to putting the state over the line, but there are cases where it would not be enough."