by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
NASHVILLE, Sept 15 – Synovus Bank, with a track record of disparate lending and consumer complaints, now proposes to cash out and merge with Nashville-based Pinnacle.
But Pinnacle has its own disparities, and is under-regulated by the Tennessee Commissioner of Financial Institutions, who refuses to provide any documents to anyone but Tennessee "citizens" (not even those *in* Tennessee).
So Fair Finance Watch filed Community Reinvestment Act challenges with the Federal Reserve and the Georgia regulator (both have confirmed receipt and the Fed has sent to Pinnacle) as well as the recalcitrant Tennessee regulator, who refuses to give records or even confirm receipt of the challenge. Pinnacle for now seems to think it has Tennessee in the palm of its hand, lock stock and barrel, regulator and media. But then there's Inner City Press, and other states...
On September 15 the FRB of Atlanta sent Fair Finance Watch some of the application - but more than a dozen exhibits were withheld. Inner City Press immediately filed:
This is a formal FOIA request for the withheld exhibits to the "New Steel" / Pinnacle / Synovus application, in particular (but not only) "Confidential" Exhibit R. The portions of the application provided this morning to Inner City Press by the FRB of Atlanta state: "Except as provided in Confidential Exhibit R, none of Synovus and Pinnacle, nor any of their respective subsidiaries, has been subject to any material litigation or investigation by local, state or federal authorities (whether ongoing, pending or resolved) within the last two years. FN 96" This was in response to the required question, "Describe any litigation or investigation by local, state, or federal authorities involving the applicant or any of its subsidiaries or the target or any of its subsidiaries that is currently pending or was resolved within the last two years." For a timely commenter on the proposal, such as Fair Finance Watch, this is material information to be able to comment on. Litigation that is resolved is public, as is nearly all pending litigation. Investigations are material. To try confine the entirety of the response to this required question to a "Confidential" Exhibit withheld from the public - particularly when Pinnacle's lead state regulator in Tennessee says it will only provide any record to Tennessee "citizens" - is inappropriate and troubling
The Fed has confirmed receipt: "Dear Matthew Lee: Your request has been assigned number FOIA-2025-01142."
Dear Chair Powell and others in the FRS:
... Fair Finance Watch has long been concerned about Synovus, as the Federal Reserve memorialized, noting "disparities in denial rates and home mortgage originations to African Americans and/or Hispanics, as compared to whites, in certain markets. The commenter also noted a complaint filed with the CFPB against Synovus Bank relating to collecting on a debt allegedly not owed."
Fair Finance Watch has reviewed the just-released 2024 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data of Synovus and finds that while it made 3.18 loans to whites for each denial to whites, it made only 1.7 loans to African Americans for each denial to African Americans.
Pinnacle is of even greater concern. In Virginia, where Pinnacle received a Low Satisfactory on the Lending Test in its most recently (May 2023) CRA performance evaluation, in 2024 it made 133 mortgage loans to whites, with 19 denials, but only 13 loans to African Americans, with fully eight denials.
In Alabama, where Pinnacle also received a Low Satisfactory on the Lending Test, in 2024 Pinnacle made 106 mortgage loans to whites, with 16 denials, but only 56 loans to African Americans, with fully nine denials.
In North Carolina, where Pinnacle also received a Low Satisfactory on the Lending Test, in 2024 Pinnacle made 653 mortgage loans to whites, with 178 denials, but only 202 loans to African Americans, with fully 82 denials.
Even in Tennessee, which conceals its records, Pinnacle was rated Low Satisfactory on the Lending Test in Knoxville and Chattanooga. Not in the exam:
In Florida in 2024 Pinnacle made 38 mortgage loans to whites, with 11 denials, but only five loans to African Americans, with fully NINE denials.
In Kentucky in 2024 Pinnacle made eleven mortgage loans to whites, with seven denials, but NO loans to African Americans. This application should not be approved; particularly in light of the disparities, public evidentiary hearings are needed.
Watch this site.
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