Agreement reached on redlining

Another East Coast regional bank criticized for alleged redlining practices has agreed to change its lending policies and make loans to low-income neighborhoods in the Bronx.

National Westminster Bancorp. said yesterday that it will lend in minority neighborhoods of the South Bronx and open an office there under an agreement with Inner City Press-Community On the Move, a group that accused the bank of redlining.

The agreement follows a similar deal between the government and Chevy Chase Federal Savings Bank, a Maryland savings and loan charged in a civil suit with redlining -- refusing to lend in an area on the basis of its racial makeup.