| As Peoples
Bancorp Tries Buy Kentucky
Bank Fair Finance Watch and
More Locals Oppose It
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack SOUTH
BRONX/SDNY,
June 8 – Peoples Bancorp of
Ohio proposes to expand into
Kentucky by buying Citizens
Bank there - then dumping its
securities business to game
the system and stay under the
$10 billion line and away from
the defanged CPFB. Fair
Finance Watch, after the
Federal Reserve refused to act
to ensure public access to
Home Mortgage Disclosure Act
data, has commented to
the Fed on the 2024 HMDA data
of Peoples - and on
the scam: Dear Chairman
Warsh, Secretary
Misback:
This is early
opposition to the application
of Peoples Bancorp Inc. of
Marietta, Ohio to acquire
Citizens National Corporation,
and thereby indirectly acquire
Citizens Bank of Kentucky,
Inc., both of Paintsville,
Kentucky. What is most
striking about this proposed
acquisition, and calls for
inquiry, hearing and denial,
is the gaming of the system.
The proposed acquisition would
take Peoples over $10 billion
- to avoid that, and fly under
the radar, Peoples proposes to
buy Citizens and then
immediately sell off its
securities portfolio and
more.
It's like
consciousness of guilty - what
is People's so afraid of? The
CFPB?
Seemingly
relatedly, Fair Finance Watch
hereby entered into the
record, at the earliest time,
Peoples Bank's disparate
records of lending in its home
state, Ohio. In
2024 in Ohio, People's Bank
(LEI I70W3N0Z6KOX8FYIH023)
made fully 981 mortgage loans
to whites, while denying only
272 - meanwhile it made only
28 loans to African Americans,
while denying fully
14.
Evidentiary hearings are
needed on this application.
There are consumer complaints,
but the FRB has declared that
even CFPB database complaints,
no matter the volume, are not
"substantive." We disagree -
and ask for a hearing on these
issues as well. And on these -
beyond Chair Warsh, it would
seem that Governor Bowman
should take a close listen to,
for example Sharon Collins,
who worked at and is a
shareholder in the target
bank: "I am totally against
this merger approved by the
board . As a stockholder I am
making my voice known. Every
person in my community that I
hear from is not pleased. Help
us stop this unwanted merger
in our community. Help the
voice of the community be
heard." Angela Johnson:
""Citizens is not in any kind
of financial trouble, so it
makes no sense. As a
shareholder of Citizens, I was
not informed of this decision
beforehand and have still not
been permitted to vote on it.
It is very disheartening to
learn about this decision
second hand and on social
media." Antitrust -
Deborah Ferguson wrote,
"customers will not have
abundant amounts of choices
when it comes to a bank
because People’s bank will be
too abundant in these areas.
As a member of this area I
wish you would please consider
not letting this merger go
through." On June 8 the FRB
of Cleveland provide a portion
of the application - but
withholding even Peoples
current and "prospective" list
of shareholders. Inner City
Press immediately appealed,
citing inter alia its FOIA
lawsuit against the Fed on
Enova, 26-cv-4556 (SDNY). Meanwhile, more
protests against the
application: W.C. Rice, from
the email address Casey Jones:
"Some years back 2018 or in
that area people's bank came
into our small town buying a
local bank "First
Commonwealth" . I had accounts
there. I kept them for a while
after the merge of First
Commonwealth but eventually
decided I really just wanted
to bank local and not with an
out of state financial
institution from ohio. So i
decided to just close them out
and keep my anchor accounts in
the local bank, Citizens. Now
I learn People's bank is now
buying out/ merging yet with
another hometown bank in my
community ultimately forcing
me to bank with them or switch
out to find banking services
with someone else. Then I see
the ad in the local paper last
week with the information for
federal reserve. Unfortunately
there was a typo in and I had
a returned email as
undeliverable which i caught
by accident and looked into it
so im guessing you may have
had several more emails had
they not put a hyphen in the
email address." [Note: the Fed
has been known to reject
public comments as purported
spam - and has not come
forward with any fix or
safeguard as Fair Finance
Watch requested] Johnna Sloan: " I
am a concerned citizen of
Paintsville, Kentucky. I
recently learned that People's
Bank was acquiring Citizens
Bank of Kentucky. This has me
worried for our small town.
Citizens Bank of Kentucky is a
staple in our town and has
been since the early 1900's
when it began as Citizens
National Bank. I was blessed
to have worked for Citizens
Bank for 15 years. I very much
enjoyed my job as a teller. We
worked hard to maintain a
personal connection with our
customers. We prioritized
taking time to speak with our
customers as friends and not
just as a number. We took the
time to get to know them, to
ask how their families were
doing. And , we sincerely
cared how they were doing!! We
celebrate the Johnson County
Apple Festival the 1st Friday
and Saturday in October each
year. This festival all
Started over 50 years ago when
Mr Elmond Davis, an officer of
the bank, allowed local
farmers to bring their apples
into town and sell them in the
street in front of Citizens
National Bank ( That's what
the bank name was at that
time) This act of kindness to
the farmers resulted in the
making of our town "Apple
Festival that takes place the
1st weekend each October every
year. This merger would
devastate our community!! Jobs
are scarce right now!! I ask
you to please help our people
to keep their jobs by allowing
this merger to not be
allowed." Anthony Daniel:
"I'm writing as a concern
citizen of paintsville
kentucky to block Peoples Bank
for acquiring Citizens
National Corp., This will have
a negative effect on the town
as well as cost major job loss
in a already poor area. We
have the right to have
community based bank that has
been in this town for 116
years . If you drive 20 mins
up the road in prestonsburg Ky
people's bank will have 3
locations within a mile radius
. In paintsville this means
people's bank will have
multiple locations with mins
from apart which isn't right." Are Governor
Bowman, and new chair Kevin
Warsh, listening to this?
Watch this site.
Your
support means a lot. As
little as $5 a month helps
keep us going and grants you
access to exclusive bonus
material on our Patreon
page. Click
here to become a patron. 
Feedback: Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com Mail:
Box 130222,
Chinatown Station, NY NY 10013 Reporter's mobile (and weekends): 718-716-3540 Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis. Copyright 2006-2025 Inner
City Press, Inc. To request reprint or
other permission, e-contact Editorial
[at] innercitypress.com |
Friday, June 12, 2026
As Peoples Bancorp Tries Buy Kentucky Bank Fair Finance Watch and More Locals Oppose It
