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- Key insight: Citizens Financial Group plans to shut down credit facilities for a pair of clients, CoreCivic and The Geo Group, two of the largest private-prison operators in the country.
- What's at stake: The move comes amid growing pressure by activist groups and communities that have called on Citizens to break ties with the private prison companies. Those firms' facilities have been used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain immigrants.
- Forward look: While claiming victory Friday, one activist group said it is now calling on the bank to publicly commit, within the next 10 days, to ending all ties with the two companies.
Citizens Financial Group , which has faced pressure for months for doing business with private prison companies tied to immigration detention centers, plans to stop financing those clients.
In a lengthy statement Friday, the $233.8 billion-asset regional bank said it would "exit the credit facilities" it has in place with CoreCivic and The Geo Group, two of the nation's largest private prison operators. The bank attributed its decision — which was announced one day before a scheduled day of protests at Citizens Bank branches — to a decrease in the companies' capital needs and financing structures now that the federal government is buying some of their prisons.
The bank dismissed the notion that pressure from activist groups and incensed community leaders was behind the decision, saying it is illegal to engage in debanking based on political or religious ideology.
"This is a business decision based on changed commercial circumstances and does not reflect any change in our view regarding these companies' business models or operations," it said.
The bank also argued that it has been unfairly targeted by activist groups.
"Citizens has been disappointed that the activists have dragged it into what is largely a political matter," the bank said in its statement. "Public characterizations of Citizens by activist groups, including as it relates to our commitment to immigrants and to communities, do not reflect who we are or the record we have built."
Activist groups viewed the bank's announcement as a positive development after months of advocacy and protests in communities where Citizens operates. In social media posts Friday, the group known as De-ICE Citizens Bank framed the announcement as "an incredible win for everyone who refused to let a major bank finance the human suffering caused by ICE detention."
The group called on Citizens to take further action by publicly committing in the next 10 days to end "any and all current and future banking relationships with CoreCivic, The Geo Group and every other private prison company." Citizens declined to comment on the group's request.
De-ICE Citizens Bank did not immediately respond to a question about whether it would proceed with protests on Saturday. The events have been scheduled to take place at various branches, primarily across the Northeast and in parts of the Midwest, according to the group's website.
In an interview with American Banker on Thursday, Citizens CEO Bruce Van Saun was asked about the activists' pressure. He said the bank has a long history of supporting its customers and the communities in which it operates.
"We are very proud of who we are," Van Saun said. The bank has made "a big commitment to our customers and to serving communities, and I can let the track record speak for itself."
The pressure on Citizens ramped up this year amid the second Trump administration's aggressive, and sometimes deadly, immigration-enforcement campaign. Since the start of the administration 18 months ago, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, has detained 400,000 people, according to a recent Brookings Institution report.
More than 60,000 people were being held in ICE detention as of April 4, according to a report from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, or TRAC. Nearly 71% had no criminal conviction on their records, according to data at that time, and Texas was the state with the most detainees, TRAC said.
In addition to individuals, some municipalities have yanked their deposits out of Citizens Bank locations. This week, the township council in Montclair, New Jersey, voted in favor of pulling out all of its money held at Citizens Bank, about $91 million, according to the Montclair Local.
In June, government leaders in Jersey City, New Jersey, said that city would also cut ties with Citizens over its connection to CoreCivic and The Geo Group.
"Jersey City is making a choice too: we will not be complicit, and we've already begun the process of pulling city funds," Mayor James Solomon said in a press release at the time.
During the second Trump administration, large numbers of immigrants have been held at facilities owned by CoreCivic and The Geo Group. This month, CoreCivic said it sold two prisons, both in California, to the federal government, for a combined sale price of $1.5 billion.
In a press release announcing the sales, CoreCivic said it would use a portion of the net proceeds to "repay all or a portion of the outstanding indebtedness under the company's bank credit facility," including an outstanding balance of $270 million on a revolving credit facility, $107.8 million on the initial term loan and $100 million on the incremental term loan.
CoreCivic did not specify in the release which bank or banks held the credit facility.
In its statement Friday, Citizens argued that it has a legal obligation to serve all customers, no matter their political or religious leanings. It cited a review conducted last year by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which analyzed nine large and regional banks and concluded that they "made inappropriate distinctions among customers … on the basis of their lawful business activities by maintaining policies restricting access to banking services or requiring escalated reviews and approvals before providing certain customers access to financial services."
Comptroller Jonathan Gould said in a press release at the time that "going forward, the OCC will hold banks accountable for these actions and ensure unlawful debanking does not continue."
Citizens was not among the banks whose actions were reviewed.
The OCC said in December that it was "still reviewing thousands of complaints to identify instances of political and religious debanking" and would report on its findings "in due course."
