| Fulton Financial
Disparities Raised on $243M Deal
with Branch Closings Withheld now
More
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY/SOUTH
BRONX, Jan 20 – 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.
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.
***
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