Banking

A St. Paul CDFI Is Now Offering Net Zero Banking

March 25, 2025 Hibah Ansari, Next City. Create! Banking, Carbon emissions, cdfis, Minnesota, Net Zero Banking

Once an outdoor educator, Laura Wildenborg spent 10 years taking kids on field trips to go rock climbing or cross-country skiing across the region, all to inspire children to love and care for the environment. After receiving her MBA in 2020, she made a drastic career pivot — to banking. But she brought her care for the environment along with her. “That love of the outdoors, that was such an important aspect of what I was doing, and I wanted to carry that through into my next role,” says Wildenborg, vice president of strategic lending for Sunrise Banks, a community development financial institution based in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Out Of The Dark And Into The Light: The ROSCA Movement In Canada

March 3, 2025 PK Mutch, Rabble. Create! Banking, Canada, Community Banks, Finance, ROSCA

Most Canadians have never heard of a Susu, Pardner, Hagbad, Chit Fund, or Tontine, collectively known by their academic name, ROSCA. But that’s about to change. Especially if Dr. Caroline Shenaz Hossein has a say—and the freedom to say it. For over ten years now, Dr. Hossein, award winning University of Toronto scholar, author, international speaker, and daughter of Caribbean immigrant parents, has been an unstoppable researcher and fiery advocate for the acceptance of ROSCAs as part of our financial system. Dr Hossein, also a founding member of the Banker Ladies Council, has been holding the torch through her research for over a decade

To Build Just And Sustainable Cities, We Need Community Banking

February 10, 2025 Oscar Perry Abello, Next City. Create! Banking, climate crisis, Community Banks, Economic crisis, Money

Hardly anyone these days talks about how banks have the power to create new money. Most bankers would say something along the lines of “We’re in the business of taking deposits and making loans.” That’s technically correct, but the precise relationship isn’t obvious. In 2023, a working paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia stated: “Private money creation by banks enables lending to not be constrained by the supply of cash deposits. During the 2001–2020 period, 92 percent of bank deposits were due to funding liquidity creation, and during 2011–2020 funding liquidity creation averaged $10.7 trillion per year, or 57 percent of [gross domestic product].”

The ‘Black And Green’ Campaign

December 22, 2024 Cinnamon Janzer, Next City. Create! Banking, Black America, Fossil Fuels, Reinvestment

Since the Paris Agreement went into effect in late 2016, 60 of the world’s largest private banks have funneled $6.9 trillion to the fossil fuel industry. Despite a wave of banks pledging to no longer finance the private prison industry between 2019 and 2021, many others are still funding the two largest U.S. private prison companies that have relied on bank loans to operate and expand. Tackling such global financial systems can seem impossible, but not when you talk to Stephone Coward, head of the Bank Black & Green campaign, an effort to funnel capital into Black-owned banks that commit to not funding the fossil fuel or mass incarceration industries.

How Unelected Regulators Unleashed The Derivatives Monster

August 4, 2024 Ellen Brown, Scheer Post. Create! Banking, Debt, Finance and the Economy, Regulation

While the world is absorbed in the U.S. election drama, the derivatives time bomb continues to tick menacingly backstage. No one knows the actual size of the derivatives market, since a major portion of it is traded over-the-counter, hidden in off-balance-sheet special purpose vehicles. However, when Warren Buffet famously labeled derivatives “financial weapons of mass destruction” in 2002, its “notional value” was estimated at $56 trillion. Twenty years later, the Bank for International Settlements estimated that value at $610 trillion. And financial commentators have put it as high as $2.3 quadrillion or even $3.7 quadrillion, far exceeding global GDP, which was about $100 trillion in 2022.

The Supreme Court May Give Us Another 2008 Financial Crisis

April 4, 2024 Katya Schwenk, The Lever. Educate! 2008 Financial Crisis, Banking, Deregulation, Finance and the Economy, US Supreme Court

The United States Supreme Court will soon decide a case that could decimate consumer protections against abusive banking practices — potentially allowing banks to disregard state laws meant to prevent the kind of predatory lending that led to the 2008 financial crisis. Legal experts say that the case, Cantero v. Bank of America, could invalidate a host of state laws that protect people from predatory lending, junk fees, and other financial scams. The case is ostensibly about a New York statute that forces banks to pay interest to consumers on certain mortgage accounts — but big banks are fighting for the court to rule they are exempt from that law and many others in states across America.

Is American Banking Safe? You Might Not Like The Answer

December 6, 2023 Lynn Parramore, Scheer Post. Educate! Banking, Capitalism, Federal Reserve, Finance and the Economy, History, Regulation

As anybody who lived through the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 knows, banking can be hazardous. Failures can hit millions hard, wiping out life savings, tossing the economy into chaos, and messing with investments, spending, and overall growth. Capital requirements are supposed to be crucial buffers shielding banks from catastrophes, rooted in centuries of financial evolution from Alexander Hamilton up through the New Deal regulatory regime and modern international agreements like the Basel Accords. But current regulators’ efforts to raise the capital ratios of big banks to safe levels are strongly opposed by most financiers, sparking debates on finding a balance between stability and financial risk, all amid intense political pressures.

Wells Fargo Workers At Two Branches Move To Unionize

November 22, 2023 Niket Nishant and Reuters, Portside. Organize! Alaska, Banking, New Mexico, Unions, Wells Fargo, Worker Rights and Jobs

Wells Fargo employees at two of the bank’s branches filed for union elections on Monday, laying the groundwork for potential unionization in an industry that has largely been immune to such labor campaigns. In a petition to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), bankers and tellers at Wells Fargo branches in Albuquerque, New Mexico and Bethel, Alaska declared their intent to join the Communications Workers of America’s Wells Fargo Workers United (WFWU). Labor action in the United States has picked up pace this year, with unions confronting companies across industries like automotive, entertainment and aerospace.

Iraqis Protest Fall In Currency Value After US Bans More Private Banks

July 29, 2023 People's Dispatch. Resist! Banking, Iran, Iraq, Protests, US Imperialism, US Sanctions

On Wednesday, July 26, scores of Iraqis protested in front of the country’s central bank in the capital Baghdad following a massive fall in the value of the Iraqi dinar that is attributed to the recent US ban on 14 private banks. The market rate of the Iraqi dinar in exchange for one US dollar has climbed up to 1,570 from 1,470 in the last two days. The US Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve imposed the bans this month, accusing the banks of money laundering and transferring funds to Iran. The banks insist that they “have nothing to do with political tensions and are independent financial institutions” willing to face an audit to dispel any notion of wrongdoing or criminal activity.

How To Build A Bank To Scale Up Local Food Ecosystems

July 8, 2023 Oscar Perry Abello, Next City. Create! Banking, Food and Agriculture, Food Security, Local Economy

Charley Cummings had a vision of creating a new, sustainable, local food system. In 2013 he and his wife started their own company in Concord, New Hampshire, delivering grass-fed beef and pasture-raised pork and chicken purchased from farmers in the region and delivered directly to consumers. Along the way, he’s found farmers, food processors, distributors and consumers who are excited to be part of it. But the banks haven’t been interested. “There were farmers and also other types of food businesses, processors and things that wanted to scale alongside us, but seem to have trouble accessing the right type of capital,” says Cummings, who previously worked in commercial composting and management consulting.

Philadelphia Passes Public Banking Law

March 9, 2023 Ken Bank, Resilience. Create! Banking, Local Economy, Philadelphia, Public Banks

With all the obstacles to public banking, a small but significant step was taken in Philadelphia last March. The Philadelphia City Council, with one exception, voted unanimously to establish the Philadelphia Public Finance Authority. Its purpose is to provide credit lines for making loans to help small businesses unable to obtain regular loans from private financial institutions. Many of these enterprises are started by those without access to capital—usually working-class people and people of color. Although not a bank in the traditional sense (the Authority is unable to take deposits from private sources), it can utilize the city’s financial resources to facilitate loans that benefit the community and help stimulate the local economy.

What Will Happen When Banks Go Bust?

February 23, 2023 Ellen Brown, Scheer Post. Educate! Bail-Ins, Banking, Credit Unions, Finance and the Economy, Financial Crisis

Financial podcasts have been featuring ominous headlines lately along the lines of “Your Bank Can Legally Seize Your Money” and “Banks Can STEAL Your Money?! Here’s How!” The reference is to “bail-ins:” the provision under the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act allowing Systemically Important Financial Institutions (SIFIs, basically the biggest banks) to bail in or expropriate their creditors’ money in the event of insolvency. The problem is that depositors are classed as “creditors.” So how big is the risk to your deposit account? Part I of this two part article will review the bail-in issue.

Webinar: Making Money Work For The Common Good

February 17, 2023 Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Popular Resistance. Create! Banking, Money, Peace, Sustainability

For over three centuries, banks have been consolidating their power by extracting interest from people, businesses, governments and the planet. This power helps to explain why politicians and governments bend to their will. Mainstream economists treat money as a neutral medium of exchange and never consider its origin and purpose. Is it meant to serve the people, or to serve the interests of the monied elite alone? Exploring that question helps explain why there’s always plenty of money for military research and development and none for protecting pollinators…and always enough to finance luxury condos instead of affordable dwellings.

A Mobile Bank On Wheels Reaches Bronx Residents Where They Are

January 25, 2023 Emily Nonko, Next City. Create! Banking, Finance and the Economy, New York City (NYC), The Bronx

The Bronx, New York City, New York - At the height of the pandemic, bank after bank began shuttering across the Bronx — between 2019 and 2021, seven banks closed 17 branches, with more than half happening in 2020, according to The Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development. The closures exacerbated an existing problem: prior to COVID-19, the Bronx had the fewest bank branches and the most check cashers and pawnshops per household in the state, possibly the country. Community organizers in the Bronx had spoken out about the closures since 2019. But they weren’t making headway with the banks, who claimed they lost money on those branches, or banking regulators, as both state and federal agencies claimed they lacked enforcement power to stop the closures. So those same organizers found a solution to address the problem themselves: a mobile banking branch, free to travel the 42-square-mile borough.

How To Green Our Parched Farmlands And Finance Critical Infrastructure

September 3, 2022 Ellen Brown, Scheer Post. Create! Banking, Environment, Finance and the Economy, Infrastructure

Congress has passed two major infrastructure bills in the last year, but imminent needs in infrastructure funding remain. The 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law chiefly focused on conventional highway programs, and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) mainly centered on energy security and combating climate change. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), over $2 trillion in much-needed infrastructure is still unfunded, including projects to address drought, affordable housing, high-speed rail, and power transmission lines. By 2039, per the ASCE, continued underinvestment at current rates will cost $10 trillion in cumulative lost GDP, more than 3 million jobs in that year, and $2.24 trillion in exports over the next 20 years.

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