by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
FEDERAL COURTHOUSE, Nov 25 – As PNC Bank has grown it has become more disparate in its lending. After its CEO Bill Demchak announced a $4.1 billion proposal to buy FirstBank and bragged, "We just effectively bought Colorado," Fair Finance Watch prepared an early filing to the regulators demanding scrutiny and hearings.
This takes place as the regulators, led by the FDIC, are seeking to eliminate public notice and limit public comment. See, e.g., American Banker, Sept 10, 2025, "The FDIC is taking the 'community' out of CRA enforcement," by Matthew R. Lee, here
On September 13 Fair Finance Watch filed challenges with the Federal Reserve and OCC, and Inner City Press filed Freedom of Information Act requests, see below.
Compare OCC denial of expedited processing here to FRB grant of identical request here
Inner City Press appealed.
On October 20 the Federal Reserve belatedly asked PNC questions, now on Patreon here
On October 28, the Fed provided Fair Finance Watch with its email to PNC asking why did it did not respond to FFW's September 18 comment within the time granted. Instead, PNC late submitted a breezy letter saying it "welcomed hearing from the two commenters who expressed concerns regarding the Proposed Transaction: Matthew Lee, Esq. of Fair Finance Watch" then citing 15 suborned letters.
On October 15 the OCC provided some responsive documents - but withheld in full 435 pages, while providing suborned letters from supportive commenters who have PNC on their Board of Directors (can you say, conflict of interest) or who name support. OCC responsive documents in Inner City Press' CloudDocument here.
Appeal was immediately filed, for action before the comment period expire.
But the OCC waiting under November 24 to deny the FOIA appeal and rubberstamp its withholding of 417 pages in full. This while PNC has applied to the OCC to close seven more branches, having just closed three others. We'll have more on this, and on PNC Bank, NA.
New issues have arisen that FFW will raise in its second comment.
From the filings:
Fair Finance Watch has long been concerned about PNC. Fair Finance Watch has reviewed the just-released 2024 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data of PNC, not reviewed in any Community Reinvestment Act performance evaluation.
In state after state, PNC for African Americans has (many) more denials than originations, while the opposite is true for white borrows. The pattern is striking:
In New York, where PNC recently and unceremoniously closed a deposit facility, PNC in 2024 denied 52 applications from African Americans while making fewer, only 28 loans - while it made fully 289 loans to whites and denied only 252 applications. This follows the same PNC pattern and is disparate.
In Colorado, which PNC CEO's says the bank has now "effectively bought," PNC in 2024 denied 12 applications from African Americans while making only 17 loans - while it made fully 422 loans to whites and denied only 244 applications. This is disparate.
In Arizona, where PNC lists 60 branches and now proposes to further expand, PNC in 2024 denied 15 applications from African Americans while making only 22 loans - while it made fully 796 loans to whites and denied only 466 applications. This is disparate. There are more states.
There are many more - including regarding the debanking the OCC said will now be considered in connection with merger and other applications - to be addressed at the requested hearings.
Watch this site.
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