| Federal Reserve Board Nixed
Public Comments on Merger Now
Cleveland Reserve Bank Spins
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY/SOUTH
BRONX, Dec 5 – As US
bank regulators loosen rules -
including the FDIC moving to
eliminate public comment
altogether on branch expansion
applications - more big banks
are moving to get bigger.
And now
Federal Reserve is rejecting
public comments opposing
mergers, here Fifth Third's
already sued Comerica
proposal, citing the
"reputation" of the submitter.
Inner City Press / Fair
Finance Watch wrote to the
Board Secretary:
Yesterday Fair
Finance Watch emailed a timely
comment opposing Fifth Third /
Comerica as we have always
done - and got back this
(which I'm glad we saw)
"This is the mail system at
host
www2.webmail.pair.com.
I'm sorry to have to inform
you that your message could
not be delivered to one or
more recipients. It's attached
below.
"federalreserve.gov:
Your access to this mail
system has been rejected due
to the sending MTA's poor
reputation."
We ask that an
explanation be provided - and
that the Federal Reserve
System check on this pending
application and other
applications, including going
forward, that it has not
rejected comments from the
public. Awaiting Fed
response, Matthew Lee,
Esq., Executive Director, Fair
Finance Watch / Inner City
Press
The
response, days later, came not
from the Board but a Reserve
Bank, that in Cleveland:
"comments can also be sent
electronically to
Comments.applications@clev.frb.org.”1
In order to ensure proper
receipt of electronic comments
on an application, please use
the email address provided in
the Federal Register notice.2
As you noted in your
correspondence, based on
consideration of the initial
server from which it was sent,
your first email on November
28, 2025, was flagged for spam
and other suspicious activity,
and automatically rejected by
the Board’s system prior to
receipt. However, the
subsequent message that you
sent to the Board’s email
address on November 29, 2025,
was received, and that message
included the comment emailed
on November 28, 2025."
But what
about Reserve Bank like in
Kansas City that list no email
address? What of the
non-public nature of the
Reserve Bank? Still no
response from the Board or
Governors (who recently denied
Fair Finance Watch's petition
for rulemaking to preserve
public access to HMDA data.
We've refiled via the FDIC,
OCC and even NCUA with the
FFIEC, what- and who ever that
it...
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, the fight
was spread to five more
states.
They all
accepted the comments from
Fair Finance Watch. But now
the Federal Reserve no longer
does. A FOIA request has been
emailed to the Federal Reserve
Board, along with a request
for expedited processing as it
impacts other pending merger
applications - watch this
site.
***
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