Law Students Collaborate with UAlbany To Rate Banks

A collaborative project between Albany Law School students and University at Albany (SUNY) students will help New Yorkers find banks that have the right offerings for their needs based on several metrics including location of bank branches; loan acceptance rates based on location, race and ethnicity, and income level; various fees; and other costs. 

The New York Bank Ratings Index (NYBRI) is a website—built by UAlbany students—that presents the research findings in an easy, searchable matter. The site was created in 2017 and the research was updated by this year’s group.  The new version of the report and site also takes the project in exciting new directions.

The project was led by Ray Brescia, Associate Dean for Research and Intellectual Life; Professor Christopher Velez, a computer science professor at UAlbany; and Professor Shobha Chengalur-Smith, Ph.D., Prof. Yeasung Jeong, and UAlbany student Riley Coleman also worked on the project. 

Albany Law School students Jocelynn Buti ’24, Emily Gerace-Gaylord ’24, Alex Gugie ’24, Shaniece Hunter ’24, Jake Penman ’24, and Matthew Ricupero ‘24 worked with Brescia on the research and analytical elements. They also updated an analytical whitepaper on the topic.

Buti was excited to work on the project as part of a class in which she was enrolled, taught by Brescia: The Law of Social Entrepreneurship and Exempt Organization, in which students learn the law of non-profits while also engaging in technology-focused projects.  According to Buti, she chose to work on the NYBRI project update, but also to expand it: “When Professor Brescia first mentioned the NYBRI update, I knew immediately that I wanted to be involved. Upon reading the initial report, it occurred to me that since its publication, the world of banking had been disrupted by the fintech [financial technology] industry. I was so pleased when Professor Brescia encouraged me to incorporate fintech platforms into our analysis for this iteration. So many community members now bank virtually, so we knew that assessing their ability to serve low- and moderate-income communities was an essential part of our updated report.”  

She added: “I am so proud of the fintech ratings in particular because they really break down a platform's ability to serve these communities and even give a heads-up on policies that one might not consider when diving into virtual banking. With fintech popularity showing rapid growth, I am so pleased that under Professor Brescia's invaluable guidance, we have included this important space in the updated ranking. Again, I'm so just proud to have been a part of this group.”

Buti and Penman are now studying for the bar exam, but they are able to take pride in this project that served as a capstone to their law school experience.  According to Penman, “Looking back at where the project is now at the end of the academic year, I know the work I did on the bank rating index will be foundational for my business practice in the future. Through the course of the project, I was amazed at the originality and thoroughness of my peers in producing a paper that evaluated everything from the value of online banking and fintech apps to home mortgage loan data published by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Seeing our ideas come to fruition in brilliant charts, maps and graphs devised by the team at the University at Albany is an extraordinary thing. I hope our paper and website increases transparency and fosters discussion about the role of banks in local communities. I know it will be a resource that consumers can use to find the bank that is best for them and their needs,” Penman said. “More than anything, I was excited by the rigor and chance to work in something that was not strictly law, and something that I had never done before. I am especially thankful for all the different professionals I have met through this project, from my peers, to Professor Brescia, the team at University at Albany, and representatives of New York's leading banking institutions.”

The report was developed over the last year, studying the largest 28 banks by assets operating in New York State.

Based on the findings, banks throughout New York were rated as follows: 
 

The project is also an example of Albany Law’s affiliation with UAlbany and Albany Law School, which offers continued opportunity for collaboration.  NYBRI is just one example of how undergraduates and law students can work together and gain experience in multiple areas. 

The School of Business at UAlbany recently launched a one year MS in Business Analytics and Ray Brescia’s New York bank ratings project served as a great capstone experience for this program. Specifically, it allowed Reilly Coleman, the graduate student who worked on this project, to apply many of the skills she learned in the Master’s program, such as data cleansing in the context of real-world messy data, and analyzing the impact of policy and business decisions on customers and society, Profs Jeong and Chengalur-Smith said.

“This experience not only enriched her understanding of the analytical tools and frameworks, but also leveraged her interdisciplinary skills to examine socioeconomic factors influencing banks’ decisions. In addition, she explored ways to bring her results to life using data visualizations and animations. By creatively visualizing her findings, Reilly communicated complex concepts in an intuitive manner, effectively bridging the gap between data analysis and stakeholder engagement.”

“Doing this project was very insightful and different from any other project I have worked on. I knew very little about mortgage data and what was required by banks and I found it interesting to learn the history behind why this data is now required to be reported. I overall enjoyed doing this project and was happy to be involved,” Coleman said.