by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
SDNY/SOUTH BRONX, Nov 10 – 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.
On November 6 the Fed wrote to Fifth Third's long-time outside counsel, "The application has been referred to the Board.. Please provide written responses to the questions included in the Confidential Annex, within eight business days from the date of this letter." All questions sealed
Still at 1 pm on Nov 6, notice of the application was still not on the Fed's website. Inner City Press raised just this to Governor Michelle Bowman at the FRBKC's hearing on EGRPRA on October 30.
On November 10 - after the Fed sent the application to DC - Fifth Third's EVP of "Corporate Responsibility" Kala Gibson wrote in urging a rubber stamp from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, saying that HMDA data proves nothing. She is speaking for CEO Tim Spence, who bragged on the day of announcement how fast he could obtain an approval. This same Fifth Third, backed when banks sent their HMDA-LAR by CD-Rom, insisted on sending only a print out on paper, unsorted. Fifth Third's is one of most contemptuous responses Fair Finance Watch has seen to date - watch this site.
Fair Finance Watch filed:
Dear FRB Chair Powell, Comptroller Gould:
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]
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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