Redlining occurs when lenders deny or discourage mortgage applications and loans in neighborhoods based on the race, color, or national origin of people who live there.

According to a federal complaint, FNB violated the federal Fair Housing Act and Equal Credit Opportunity Act by avoiding home loans and other mortgage services between 2017 and 2021 in majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods.

The Pittsburgh-based bank's redlining allegedly included locating and maintaining nearly all branch locations and mortgage loan officers outside these neighborhoods, and relying on majority-white areas for referrals and loan applications.

Though Charlotte and Winston-Salem had a respective 32% and 22% of census tracts in majority-Black and Hispanic areas, FNB devoted just one of 18 branches in each region to those tracts -- and closed the Winston-Salem branch in 2021, the complaint said.

The lawsuit seeks restitution to victims, a civil fine, an injunction against further redlining and other remedies.

FNB did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The lender ended 2023 with about $46.2 billion of assets and 350 branches in seven states plus Washington, D.C.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York, editing by David Ljunggren)