by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
SDNY/SOUTH BRONX, Oct 16 – As US bank regulators loosen rules - including the FDIC moving to eliminate public comment altogether on branch expansion applications - now more big banks are moving to get bigger.
On October 6, amid the pending PNC - FirstBank and Pinnacle - Synovus proposals, Fifth Third announced it will apply to buy damaged Comerica Bank. On October 8-9, it was opposed, to the Fed and OCC.
Inner City Press submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Fed, the same it has used on other mergers, always resulting in expedited treatment.
But on October 16, the Fed for the first time denied expedited treatment on Fifth Third - Comerica and Direct Express. Inner City Press has appealed, asking that the Governors answer: what changed?
Inner City Press has also FOIA-ed all records behind the change in policy, again requesting expedited treatment. Race to the bottom at the Fed...
Fair Finance Watch filed:
Dear FRB Chair Powell, Comptroller Gould:
This is an early first comment on, the proposal and applications by Fifth Third to acquire Comerica. Beyond the lending disparities preliminarily identified below, the US government's Direct Express payment program was removed from Comerica, part of its weakening, and given to Fifth Third, which now applies to acquire Comerica. Public hearings are needed, and hereby required.
Fair Finance Watch has long been concerned about Fifth Third. Fair Finance Watch has reviewed the just-released 2024 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data of Fifth Third, not reviewed in any Community Reinvestment Act performance evaluation.
In state after state, Fifth Third for African Americans has (many) more denials than originations, while the opposite is true for white borrows. The pattern is striking, starting with two states Fifth Third and Comerica overlap in:
In Michigan, the state Comerica abandoned for Texas, Fifth Third in 2024 denied 249 applications from African Americans while making fewer, only 177loans - while it made fully 4189 loans to whites and denied only 1688 applications. This is disparate [there are more states]
From the many complaints against Fifth Third, there's a major one by the CFPB itself...
Inner City Press, which has opposed the FDIC's moves to close itself to public scrutiny - American Banker op-ed here - has now submitted FOIA requests on all this. The FDIC said it will eliminate public notices because it does not receive enough public comments. That is changing, starting now. Watch this site.
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