Kristen Christian, Who Created 'Bank Transfer Day,' the November 5 Bank Boycott, Tells Us Why. Earlier today we wrote of what appeared to be an Occupy Wall Street-related bank boycott planned for November 5th. We've spoken to Kristen Christian, the 27-year-old creator of the event, who has clarified some things. For one, it's not an Occupy Wall Street-organized event, though members of the Occupied movement support the idea and are planning to join in. Further, it's not an effort based in anarchy, or an event that Christian hopes will cause an economic crisis (any more than the one we're already in). "It's not people taking their money and burying it under their mattress. It's shifting the money to a company people respect the practices of.
It's like, if you don't like Wal-Mart's practices, shopping at a local grocery store instead. " More from Christian on Bank Transfer Day, after the jump. What's the relationship between Bank Transfer Day and Occupy Wall Street? Have you spoken to Occupy Wall Street? The Facebook page for the event has only been up for three days? Why the big banks aren’t sweating Bank Transfer Day. It’s Bank Transfer Day on Saturday, and some unknown number of people are going to transfer their money from their too-big-to-fail bank to a friendly local community bank or credit union. Good for them! Unfortunately, Bank Transfer Day is happening the week that MF Global declared bankruptcy, with the possible loss of some $700 million in client funds.
And the net effect of the two is almost certainly going to be money flowing in to TBTF banks, rather than out of them. Matt Levine has a fantastic post today explaining why it doesn’t make sense to be the customer of a small-enough-to-fail institution. This doesn’t apply to small depositors at retail banks, of course, who are federally insured. But for institutional clients, whose funds are uninsured, the moral-hazard trade here is clear: If you were trading commodity futures in the last few years, a lot of things could have gone wrong.
Amid Wall Street Protests, Smaller Banks Gain Favor. Peter DaSilva for The New York TimesVince Siciliano, the head of New Resource Bank in San Francisco, says his business is growing. Vince Siciliano — a Birkenstock-wearing, organic food-eating, public transportation-riding sympathizer of Occupy Wall Street who earns $240,000 a year — is far from a banking baron. But as the chief executive of New Resource Bank in San Francisco, Mr. Siciliano has managed to pull off what his bigger rivals have not: turn a profit and stay out of the line of fire. “Our business has tripled this month,” said Mr. Siciliano, 61, referring to October. “We have had nonstop, all day long, people moving their money.” New Resource, a small community bank that focuses on sustainable and “planet-smart” small businesses and nonprofits, is one of the many community-based lenders benefiting from the criticism of Wall Street.
On the margins, customers are seeking out alternatives like community banks and credit unions. When Mr. “It’s a good time for us,” Mr. Mr. Credit Union National Association. FearLess Revolution - Blog - A Field Guide to Closing Your Bank Account. Bank Transfer Day is gaining some serious steam. Although it's not technically affiliated with Occupy, it's being embraced by the movement and is the first specific call to action since the Occupy protests began four weeks ago. The description and goal of Bank Transfer Day is straightforward: If you currently have checking and savings accounts (deposit accounts) with a big bank, the organizers encourage you to remove all of your funds, close your accounts, and place your money in a new deposit account with a not-for-profit credit union. The organizers ask that you do this by November 5. And since November 5 is a Saturday, you should definitely do it before November 5 since many big banks aren't open on weekends. Bank Transfer Day can significantly impact the way banks are able to make a profit.
In simplest terms, banks rely on our deposit account balances to make loans that net substantial profits. Without our deposits, banks can't make loans. 1. 3. 4. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 1. 2. 3. 4. Why Bank Transfer Day is only the beginning - Occupy Wall Street. On Oct. 9, Kristen Christian, a 27-year-old art gallery owner in Los Angeles, created a Facebook page urging her friends to move their money out of the big banks on Nov. 5. The suggestion hit a nerve. By Nov. 4, 77,015 “friends” had declared their intention to “attend” Bank Transfer Day. That doesn’t necessarily mean that 77,015 people will be pulling all their money out of the likes of Chase, Citibank, Wells Fargo and Bank of America all at once. Saturday is hardly an ideal day to get banking business done, and the process of switching over one’s account to a new bank or credit union is not something that can be accomplished — yet — with a flip of a switch.
It’s also not clear that the big banks will take a big hit from Bank Transfer Day. In purely numerical terms, Salmon might be right, but there’s a larger sense in which he is almost surely wrong. And something is clearly happening here. CUNA estimates that credit unions have added $4.5 billion in new savings accounts. (1) BANK TRANSFER DAY.