Comprehensive Text Block List

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2023

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Legal Matters and Contingencies

Other Matters

On February 28, 2023, Park National Bank reached an agreement with the DOJ to increase the efforts of Park National Bank to promote home lending in the Columbus, Ohio market. The agreement, which is reflected in the consent order filed on February 28, 2023, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio (the “DOJ Consent Order”) and approved by that Court on March 2, 2023, served to voluntarily resolve all claims of the U.S. alleging that Park National Bank’s mortgage lending practices within the Columbus, Ohio Metropolitan Statistical Area violated the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.

In accordance with the terms of the DOJ Consent Order, Park National Bank will invest a minimum of $7.75 million over five years in a loan subsidy fund to increase credit opportunities for home mortgage loans, home improvement loans, home refinance loans and home equity loans and lines of credit for consumers applying for loans in majority-minority census tracts ("MMCTs") in Fairfield, Franklin, Hocking, Licking, Morrow and Perry counties in Ohio (the “Columbus Lending Area”). Park National Bank will also devote a minimum of $500,000 over five years toward one or more community development partnership programs that provide services to residents of MMCTs in the Columbus Lending Area related to credit, financial education, homeownership and foreclosure prevention; and at least $750,000 over five years toward advertising, community outreach, consumer financial education and credit counseling in the Columbus Lending Area. Park National Bank will also establish one new mortgage loan production office and one new full-service branch in MMCTs in the Columbus Lending Area and hire four lenders, one of whom will be Spanish-speaking, focused on serving these communities. In addition, Park National Bank will continue to maintain, throughout the term of the DOJ Consent Order, Park National Bank’s full-time Director of Community Home Lending and Development position, who will oversee Park National Bank’s lending in MMCTs in the Columbus Lending Area.

Park is committed to investing at least $9.0 million over five years and will record the related expenses incurred in the period in which the associated activities occur.