by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
SDNY/SOUTH BRONX, Nov 7 – 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. Starting October 8, Fair Finance Watch filed opposition, and Inner City Press FOIA requests, including for the Fed's sealed questions.
One of the damages to Comerica is that the Treasury Department took from Comerica its Direct Express contract - and awarded it to Fifth Third.
Now Fifth Third has applied to the Treasury Department's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to buy Comerica. Talk about picking winners and losers.
And talking about losers, Fifth Third's nationwide lending in 2024, the most recent year for which data is available, was disparate: 26,121 mortgage loans to whites and only 11,566 denial to whites, versus only 1784 loans to African Americans and even more denials: 1970. These disparities continue in Fifth Third's other states, as Fair Finance Watch has demonstrated. On November 7 it filed this:
In the month since Fair Finance Watch commented to the agencies, the Federal Reserve has put some question to Fifth Third's outside counsel Rodgin Cohen - but has characterized them as entirely confidential. Inner City Press has submitted a FOIA request, and a second one for the over-withheld exhibits. For now, for the record: "Fifth Third Bank faces $200M in provisions from Tricolor ‘fraud’ - "potential loss of millions following subprime lender Tricolor Holdings’ bankruptcy filing. Fifth Third faces 'nearly $200 million of provision expense associated with the fraud at Tricolor.'" Public hearings are needed
Inner City Press, which has opposed the FDIC's moves to close itself to public scrutiny - American Banker op-ed here - has 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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