by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
SDNY/SOUTH BRONX, Nov 28 – 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, 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 10, after a contemptuous response by Fifth Third's Kala Gibson, Fair Finance Watch spread the fight spread to five more states.
On November 18 the Federal Reserve put 15 multi-part questions to Fifth Third, ranging from branch closures and the Community Reinvestment Act to potential shareholder litigation and, at last, the Direct Express program. Inner City Press is putting the Fed's question letter on its DocumentCloud here, as it will Fifth Third responses - after FOIA if necesary, though 53 is supposed to sent them to Fair Finance Watch.
On November 28 FFW filed a fourth comment:
This is a fourth timely comment on, the proposal and applications by Fifth Third to Acquire Comerica. Beyond the lending disparities preliminarily identified thus far, and that the US government's Direct Express payment program was removed from Comerica, part of its weakening, and given to Fifth Third, there is now a serious lawsuit against the proposal.
In Delaware on November 26, Vice Chancellor Morgan T. Zurn ruled that Comerica must disclose additional board materials. The next hearing in is January 2026. The public comment period on this challenged proposal must be extended at least until then, to allow review of - and comment on - the materials that Judge Zurn has ordered to be disclosed. We have yet to receive any Fifth Third response to the questions put to it on November 18, and will timely comment on those upon receipt...
In the more than two weeks since, Mr. Gibson and Fifth Third have put in nothing, even as his/their response was proved to be false. This is a pattern.
In MSA after MSA, and nationwide, Fifth Third for African Americans has (many) more denials than originations, while the opposite is true for white borrows. The pattern is striking. In Texas in 2024, Fifth Third made 27 mortgage loans to whites - and other three to African Americans. In Delaware in 2024, Fifth Third made mortgage loans to whites - but none to African Americans.
This comment period should be longer than the bare minimum; evidentiary hearings should be held; and on the current record, the application should not be approved.
Their application to the Fed disclosed five states they are filing with: Michigan, Texas, California, Florida and Arizona. On November 10 Inner City Press filed with all five.
Fair Finance Watch filed:
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]
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