Abacus Federal Savings Bank
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Financial services |
| Founded | December 1984 |
| Headquarters | New York City , United States |
Area served | United States (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania) |
| Products | Banking services, mortgage lending, insurance products (life, health, accident, annuity) |
| Website | abacusbank |
Abacus Federal Savings Bank (), established in December 1984 by Chinese American entrepreneurs in New York City, is a financial institution based in the United States.
Notably, Abacus was the sole American bank to face legal charges related to the 2008 financial crisis; however, it was completely cleared of all allegations following a jury trial in 2015. The vigorous legal action against Abacus stood in stark contrast to the more lenient approaches taken toward major banks, a discrepancy that attracted significant media scrutiny.
This legal battle and subsequent exoneration are portrayed in the documentary Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, which received a nomination for the 2018 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
Locations
Abacus maintains branch offices across New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.[1]
Additional services
The bank owns Abacus Insurance Agency Corp. (AIAC), which provides insurance products including life, health, accident, and annuity coverage.[1] As a federally chartered institution, Abacus offers mortgage lending and other banking services nationwide.[1]
Charges
In May 2012, the Manhattan District Attorney charged Abacus and nineteen employees with alleged mortgage fraud related to loans sold to Fannie Mae between 2005 and 2010. The allegations included claims that loan applications were falsified to help borrowers qualify.[2] Abacus asserted that it had voluntarily reported the misconduct, dismissed the responsible staff member, was not implicated in fraudulent subprime securities activities, and maintained a mortgage default rate of 0.5%, well below the national average.[3]
Trial result
On June 3 and 4, 2015, a jury at New York Supreme Court acquitted the bank as well as its former Chief Credit Officer and loan supervisor of all charges brought by prosecutors.
Media coverage
The contrast between the strict prosecution of Abacus and the leniency shown toward larger financial institutions sparked criticism from multiple media sources. Journalist Matt Taibbi discussed this imbalance extensively in his 2014 publication The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap. Jill Sung criticized the unequal treatment and public shaming tactics such as the perp walk, labeling them as overt racial discrimination against Asian Americans.
This narrative is central to Steve James' documentary Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, which debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2016, and was broadcast on PBS Frontline nationwide on September 12, 2017. The film earned a nomination for Best Documentary Feature at the 2018 Academy Award ceremony.
External links
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedaboutus - ↑ Karen Freifeld (2012-05-31). "Abacus Federal Savings Bank indicted for mortgage fraud". Reuters.
- ↑ Dave Lindorff (2013-04-07). "Big trouble, little Chinatown bank". Crains New York.
