The bank said the move reflects clients' changing capital needs after property sales to the US government, arguing the companies now need less from a bank of Citizens' size.
Months of anti-ICE protests had targeted Citizens offices, but the bank said the exit was a business decision, not a response to public-relations pressure or a shift in its view of the companies' operations.
Activists called the decision a victory and said more than $350 million had been pledged for withdrawal over the bank's prison-industry ties, though they want written assurance that all relationships with GEO and CoreCivic will end.
Citizens, one of the 20 largest US banks with about $186 billion in deposits, joins other major banks that had already cut ties with private prison operators in 2019.