Citizens Bank is losing customers over its ties to prison operators

Companies can face boycotts and pressure from civil society groups for various reasons.

And those boycotts can have an impact on companies' bottom lines, especially for firms that face higher levels of competition, a research report from the Southern Economic Journal found.

Now one bank finds itself in the crosshairs of protests across the country.

Protests against banks aren't uncommon. Since banks provide lending to many different companies, civil society groups may try to pressure them to stop funding certain companies or even sectors.

Times when banks came under pressure

• Occupy Wall Street: The large anti-bank protest took place in 2011, targeting investors and large institutional banks, according to a report from Yale University.
• Dakota Access Pipeline: Protestors put pressure on banks funding the Dakota pipeline in 2016 and 2017, encouraging depositors to withdraw their funds, reported NPR.
• Climate bank protests: In 2023, several protests blocked access to major U.S. bank branches over the banks' funding of fossil fuel companies, according to The Washington Post.

But banks often need to consider several factors to determine who they lend to. Dmitri Maxim, a certified management accountant, told TheStreet that banks price risk against specific categories.

"The bank isn't the decision-maker here. It's the pressure point," he said.

Protestors are pulling their money out of Citizens Bank

Several organizations revealed they are pulling their money out of Citizens Bank to protest its ties to controversial contractors, Banking Dive reported.

Citizens Bank is a 198-year-old bank that operates in several East Coast states. It is the 20th largest bank in the U.S. ,with more than $226 billion in assets under management according to government data.

The Greater Boston Interfaith Organization said it would withdraw $1 million from its Citizens accounts after claiming the bank's CEO, Bruce Van Saun, didn't meet with them over their concerns.

The faith organization and other groups have questioned Citizens Bank's relationship with CoreCivic and The GEO Group, which own and operate U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers.

"We're deeply troubled with what they are doing with our money," Rev. John Edgerton said during a protest on Monday, May 4, reported 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," Edgerton said. "No, not with our money."

Growing protests against Citizens Bank

Several protests in the past few months have highlighted Citizens Bank's ties to CoreCivic and The GEO Group. According to SEC filings, the bank expanded GEO's borrowing capacity in January to $100 million.

In April, a union representing students at Brown University said it would withdraw $500,000 in protest, the Rhode Island Current indicated.

More bank news

• Bank of America goes all in on controversial tech
• Citibank customers get new controversial feature
• 150-year-old bank announces branch closures

Citizens Bank did not respond to a request for comment by TheStreet at the time of publication.

The bank told Banking Dive that it does not comment on specific client relationships and that it stands by its clients, provided 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," a bank spokesperson said.

In 2019, major banks cut financial ties with private prisons such as CoreCivic and GEO Group amid public backlash, according to CBS News.

Related: This major bank is going on a branch-opening spree

The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.

This story was originally published May 6, 2026 at 7:33 PM.