by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack SDNY/SOUTH BRONX, Jan 21 – 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. So on December 8 Fair Finance Watch filed with the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency - in advance - against Fulton Financial's newest merger proposal, under the Community Reinvestment Act. The Fed directed Fulton to make its branch closing plans public, as it did with Fifth Third - but on the day the comment period is set to expire, Fulton refused. Immediate FOIA request and comment: Now at 4:41 pm on the day the comment period is set to expire, Fulton refused to comply with the FRS' request it make its branch closing thoughts public, as the FRB Cleveland made Fifth Third on Comerica do. We have immediately filed this FOIA request (the Fed's portal is not working today) Date: Wed, Jan 21, 2026 at 4:49 PM Subject: FOIA request for the withheld portions of Fulton Financial's Jan 21 response to FRS questions To: FRBFOIA This is a FOIA request for the withheld portions of Fulton Financial's Jan 21 response to FRS questions including that Fulton provided a preliminary update on the status of Fulton’s decision-making process related to potential branch consolidations or closures. This information was provided in a Confidential Exhibit. Please provide (1) a public version of the January AI Response’s Confidential Exhibit" - to which Fulton just responded "Response: At this time, Fulton has made no decision to close or consolidate any branches. Please see Confidential Exhibit B for additional responsive information." This on the last day of the comment period. We are requesting the other withheld exhibits - the comment period must be extended, as well. This is a request for expedited processing (application pending), and for fee waiver, we inform the public about the operations of government, here the FRS Matthew Lee personally and for Inner City Press / Fair Finance Watch We got: "Something went wrong while processing your action. Please contact FRBFOIA@foia.federalreserve.gov for assistance if the problem persists. [Now we've gotten this: From: FOI Requests Date: Wed, Jan 21, 2026 at 4:51 PM Subject: Automatic reply: FOIA request for the withheld portions of Fulton Financial's Jan 21 response to FRS questions To: Fair Finance Watch The Board recently transitioned to an online Request for Information website to submit FOIA and Privacy Act requests and appeals. To ensure a more timely response to your request, we strongly advise you to submit your requests electronically via https://foia.federalreserve.gov, with or without registering. Registering to use the site provides several benefits to the requester community, such as: • Check the status of your request 24/7; • Send and receive messages to and from the Information Disclosure Section; and • View and download responsive records to your private reading room. But it's not working... FFW noted that Fulton had a seat on the FRB of Philadelphia's board, and FOIA-ed what safeguards are in place. Still no documents, but on January 20 the FRBP wrote to FFW: "the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of FFC and Fulton Bank, N.A., Lancaster, Pennsylvania, serves on this Reserve Bank’s board of directors. As stated in the Application Acknowledgement Letter sent to FFC and in the Reserve Bank’s letter acknowledging the comment you submitted on December 8, 2025, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“Board”) is processing the above-noted Application and is considering your comment dated December 8, 2025, in reviewing that Application." Then an enigmatic, "No further action will be taken with respect to your email received by the Board on January 12, 2026." Including by the Board? Later on January 20 Inner City Press submitted its third timely comment, noting with support another comment. With branch closings still withheld, and conflicts unresolved, the comment period must be extended. Watch this site. Fulton Bank NA in Delaware in 2024 made 199 mortgage loans to whites, and only 24 to African Americans. Meanwhile it denied five applications from African Americans, and only 68 from whites. This is disparate. Fulton Bank NA in Pennsylvania in 2024 made 2381 mortgage loans to whites, and only 181 to African Americans. Meanwhile it denied 111 applications from African Americans, and only 616 from whites. On January 15, the Fed told Fulton to make it branch closing plans public." But they haven't been, yet. Watch this site. Inner City Press, which has opposed the FDIC's moves to close itself to public scrutiny - American Banker op-ed here - will be submitting FOIA requests on all this. The FDIC said it will eliminate public notices because it does not receive enough public comments. That is now changing. 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 |
