from the Christian Science Monitor:
Bank Transfer Day: Occupy-backed assault on big banks gaining steam
Bank Transfer Day is approaching, with organizers calling on Americans to move their money out of big banks by Nov. 5. Local banks, the potential beneficiaries of the Occupy-backed Bank Transfer Day, are reporting a significant uptick in business. By Gloria Goodale and Daniel B. Wood, Staff writers / November 4, 2011
Activists of the 'Occupy' movement stage a protest without trousers in front of a cash dispenser at the headquarters of the Swiss bank Credit Suisse at the Paradeplatz square in Zurich, Switzerland, Thursday. Message on the banner reads: 'The banks have gambled away our last trousers.' International Bank Transfer Day is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 5, 2011.
Walter Bieri/APStudio City, Calif.Some of the estimated 15,000 community banks and credit unions already appear to be profiting from the upcoming International Bank Transfer Day. Organizers of the action have set the date of Nov. 5 for consumers to shift their financial assets from large corporate institutions into community banks.
Already 650,000 people across the country have joined credit unions in the past four weeks.
As the date nears, potential beneficiaries of the global day of action are cashing in on an upswell of anti-corporate bank sentiment and are reporting a significant uptick in business. From Portland, Ore., to Rockland, Mass., smaller banks are seeing new accounts swell, compared to the same period a year ago.
“We’ve seen our new accounts go up about 30 percent in the last month,” says Jim Schlotfeldt, chief financial officer of Albina Community Bank in Portland. The bank’s five branches normally do not open on Saturday, but Mr. Schlotfeldt says his bank is planning to make an exception this Saturday in anticipation of new business. ..............(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2011/1104/Bank-Transfer-Day-Occupy-backed-assault-on-big-banks-gaining-steam