After community activists expressed opposition to a bank branch closure in a low-income section of Toledo, Ohio, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown urged regulators to scrutinize branch closures that spark local concern.
Brown, an Ohio Democrat, wants the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to hold public meetings on branch closures in situations where community members request them. He also says the OCC should require banks to meet all legal requirements before they're allowed to close branches.
"Banks serve a unique role in the functioning of our financial system and economy," Brown wrote in a March 2 letter to acting Comptroller Michael Hsu. "That is why they must serve the needs of all members of their community, and all communities across the country."
Brown's letter referenced the situation in Toledo, where the nonprofit Fair Housing Center recently asked the OCC to hold a public meeting on Fifth Third Bancorp's plan to close a branch in the Englewood neighborhood. Brown wrote that he supports the OCC holding a public meeting.
The Fair Housing Center wrote in a Feb. 16 letter to the OCC that the branch closure will deprive the surrounding neighborhoods of banking services and credit opportunities that local residents need.
"The neighborhood where this bank branch is located is an area that was historically redlined and has remained segregated by race due to the lasting effects of those policies," the group wrote.
In a Feb. 23 response to the Fair Housing Center, the OCC said that it will consider the group's comments in its next Community Reinvestment Act evaluation of Fifth Third. But it did not commit to holding a public meeting.
"The bank's decision to close the branch office is a business decision that does not require the approval of the OCC," wrote Jason Almonte, the OCC's director for large bank licensing.
When asked Monday about the OCC's view on whether, and under what circumstances, public meetings on branch closures should be held, an agency spokesperson had no immediate comment.
A Fifth Third spokesperson said that the Cincinnati-based bank is continuously evaluating its branch network, and that it takes into account consumer preferences.
Fifth Third will keep an ATM at the site of the shuttered branch in Toledo, and customers will be able to use online and mobile banking services, in addition to visiting other Fifth Third branches, according to the spokesperson.
"Although we have one location closing in Toledo, we have two additional financial centers within the same zip code to serve customers. Our team has been welcoming and working with those customers as they transition," the Fifth Third spokesperson said in an email.
The spokesperson also noted that the OCC gave Fifth Third an ''outstanding'' rating on its most recent Community Reinvestment Act examination, which covered 2017 to 2021. Fifth Third said in January that
George Thomas, CEO and general counsel of the Fair Housing Center, said in an interview that Fifth Third's notices to customers about the branch closure in Toledo did not note that people could submit comments to the OCC about the branch shutdown.
A provision of federal law states that when an interstate bank proposes to close a branch in a low- or moderate-income area, the notice to customers "shall contain the mailing address of the appropriate federal banking agency and a statement that comments on the proposed closing of such branch may be mailed to such agency."
