| Fifth Third Hides Comerica
Bid Branch Closing Amid Protest
Now Its AI Deal with Brex Raised
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY/SOUTH
BRONX, Dec 9 – 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, by Fair
Finance Watch.
On
December 1 Fifth Third filed
with the Fed, but is seeking
to withhold from the public,
the many branches it would
close if it gets Fed approval.
FFW immediately challenged
with withholding under FOIA -
and has noted to the Fed that
the proposed deal has been
sued in Delaware, where there
is a January hearing. The
comment period must remain
open, including until all
branch closings are disclosed.
On December 9,
still waiting, FFW filed a
fifth comment, on AI: " This
is a fifth 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, earlier today
Fifth Third announced another
deal:
Brex.
It is described as something
new, an expansion of not only
fintech but AI into banking.
It's impacts need to be
inquired into, and commented
upon, including at the
requested
hearings.
For the
record:
Fifth Third Partners with Brex
for AI-Powered Commercial
Cards Regional bank teams with
fintech firm to modernize
corporate expense management
platform."
On November 10,
after a contemptuous response
by Fifth Third's Kala Gibson,
the fight has spread to five
more states.
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. He is
speaking for CEO Tim Spence,
who bragged on the day of
announcement how fast he could
obtain an approval. Well let's
see.
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] They are
worse in Florida...
***
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