198-Year-Old Bank Faces Customer Exodus Over Ties to Private Prison Operators

Companies across industries can find themselves in the crosshairs of consumer boycotts for a wide range of reasons. And according to a research report published in the Southern Economic Journal, those boycotts can hit hard — especially for firms operating in competitive markets.

Now, one of the oldest banks in the United States is learning that lesson the hard way.

Citizens Bank, a 198-year-old institution headquartered in Rhode Island and operating across the East Coast, has become the target of coordinated protests and account closures. The bank is the 20th largest in the U.S., with more than $226 billion in assets under management, according to federal data.

Several organizations have announced they are pulling their money from Citizens Bank to protest its financial ties to CoreCivic and The GEO Group, two companies that own and operate U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers, as reported by Banking Dive.

“The bank isn't the decision-maker here. It's the pressure point,” said Dmitri Maxim, a certified management accountant, in an interview with TheStreet. He explained that banks typically price risk against specific categories, but when activists target a bank’s lending portfolio, the institution becomes a proxy for broader political battles.

The Greater Boston Interfaith Organization said it would withdraw $1 million from its Citizens accounts after claiming the bank’s CEO, Bruce Van Saun, refused to meet with them to discuss their concerns.

“We’re deeply troubled with what they are doing with our money,” Rev. John Edgerton said during a protest on Monday, May 4, as reported by WGBH News. “We are here today because we need to let the banks know that people of good faith, people of good conscience, people of Goodwill, our neighbors, will not stand for building private prisons, for building deportation machines, for crushing our neighbors underneath their wheels for profit. No, not with our money.”

In April, a union representing students at Brown University also announced it would withdraw $500,000 in protest, according to the Rhode Island Current.

The protests come amid renewed scrutiny of bank relationships with private prison operators. According to SEC filings, Citizens Bank expanded GEO Group’s borrowing capacity to $100 million in January. That move reignited criticism from advocacy groups who argue that banks should not profit from detention facilities they say violate human rights.

“This is not about a single loan — it’s about a pattern,” said Maria Torres, a community organizer in Providence who has participated in multiple protests outside Citizens branches. “They keep saying they follow the law, but the law doesn’t require them to fund detention centers that separate families. They’re choosing to do that.”

Others see the bank’s position as more nuanced. “Banks lend to all kinds of industries — energy, defense, agriculture,” said James Harlow, a former banking analyst based in New York. “If we start punishing every bank that has a controversial client, we’d have no banks left. The question is whether Citizens is doing proper due diligence and monitoring. From what I’ve seen, they are.”

But for critics like Torres, that argument doesn’t hold water. “Due diligence? Please. They know exactly what these companies do. They just don’t care until the money starts walking out the door,” she said.

Citizens Bank did not respond to a request for comment by TheStreet at the time of publication. However, a bank spokesperson told Banking Dive that the institution does not comment on specific client relationships and stands by its clients as long as they meet bank standards and obey the law.

“Every relationship is subject to rigorous due diligence and ongoing monitoring, and we are prepared to exit relationships when those standards are not met, consistent with contractual and regulatory obligations,” the spokesperson said.

The controversy places Citizens Bank in a familiar spotlight. In 2019, several major banks — including Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of America — cut financial ties with private prison companies like CoreCivic and GEO Group amid widespread public backlash, according to CBS News. Citizens Bank did not follow suit, and that decision is now costing it.

The broader context is important: private prison companies have faced mounting criticism over conditions in detention centers, allegations of forced labor, and the separation of migrant families. Activists argue that banks enabling these operations are complicit in human rights abuses.

“This isn’t just about one bank or one protest,” said Sarah Kim, a professor of business ethics at Georgetown University. “It’s part of a larger movement where consumers and communities are demanding that financial institutions align their lending practices with social values. Banks that ignore that trend do so at their own peril.”

For Citizens Bank, the question now is whether the exodus will spread — and whether the bank will eventually change course, as its competitors did years ago.

This story was originally published by TheStreet on May 6, 2026, where it first appeared in the Economy section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.