Citizens Bank said it will exit lending agreements with two private prison operators after receiving intense public scrutiny over those relationships.
The financial group announced in a statement Friday that it would stop extending credit to GEO Group and CoreCivic. The companies, which collectively run about 130 facilities in the United States, contract with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to provide detention centers. Numerous progressive groups have protested Citizens Bank’s business dealings with GEO Group and CoreCivic in recent months, calling on the company to sever ties through pickets outside bank branches and even a flyover banner across the the company’s namesake South Philly stadium.
Citizens Financial Group insisted that its decision was based on the private prison operators’ “reduced need for a bank with Citizens’ full range of capabilities” rather than public pressure. It did not “reflect any change in our view regarding these companies’ business models or operations,” the banking group claimed…