‘Redlining Is Racist’: $12 Million Settlement Ends Lending Inquiry

A New Jersey-based bank accused by the Justice Department of redlining to avoid making loans in predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods agreed on Wednesday to create a $12 million homeownership fund, in one of the largest federal settlements of its kind.

Lakeland Bank admitted no wrongdoing as part of a consent decree brokered by the U.S. Department of Justice, which had been investigating the bank’s lending practices between 2015 and last year. But Lakeland has agreed to open two new branches, including one in Newark, and to increase mortgage lending...