BofA to stop lending to private-prison firms

Bloomberg

Bank of America Corp (BofA) the second-biggest US bank, will stop lending to companies that run private prisons and detention centers.
“We have decided to exit the relationship’’ with companies that provide prison and immigration-detention services, Vice Chairman Anne Finucane said in an interview. “We’ve done our due diligence that we said we would do at the annual meeting, and this is the decision we’ve made.’’
The move followed a review by the bank’s environmental, social and governance, or ESG, committee, which included site visits and consultation with clients, civil rights leaders, criminal justice experts and academics. The Charlotte, North Carolina-based lender also met with its internal Hispanic and black leaders.
The company will stop its activities in the industry as soon as it can, while meeting contractual obligations, said Finucane, who leads Bank of America’s ESG efforts.
Shares of two of the largest private-prison companies, GEO Group Inc. and CoreCivic Inc., fell as much as 4.3 percent and 4.4 percent, respectively. They both dropped at least 17 percent last year. Steve Owen, a CoreCivic spokesman, said Bank of America misrepresented the company and based its decision on politics.
“We care deeply about doing business in an ethical, responsible way,” he said in an emailed statement. “This was clearly not a fair, transparent and genuine dialogue about corrections and detention.”