Fed Rejects Bank Buy

WASHINGTON — A Federal Reserve Board decision that for the first time penalizes a bank for failing to serve poor neighborhoods appears to signal a new willingness by regulators to enforce a 12-year-old law against such practices, community activists said Thursday.

The Fed rejected a request by the Chicago-based Continental Bank Corp. to purchase a small Arizona bank because, it said, Continental had not fulfilled its duties under the Community Reinvestment Act.