More than 4 million accounts have already moved away from the nation's largest banks and this trend will only increase according to Moebs Services, an economic research firm in Lake Bluff, IL. Previously, large banks with over $50 billion in assets held 45% of the 130 million consumer checking accounts in 2009. That number has been decreasing dramatically with Bank of America losing 400,000 accounts in 2010 alone.
This trend will only continue, according to Michael Moebs, CEO of Moebs Services, who predicts an additional 7 to 9 million accounts moving by the end of 2011. The trend should plateau in 2012 after the nation's largest banks see between 13 and 17 million accounts moving to local community banks and credit unions in just three short years. If Moebs' predictions come to fruition, the largest financial firms will only hold a third of all free checking accounts in the US by the end of 2012, a huge drop from the 45% they held in 2009.
This mass-exodus from the nation's 'Too Big To Fail' firms is by no means accidental. Customers are beginning to wise-up to Wall Street's abuses and are choosing to vote with their dollars. The Move Your Money project, a campaign that began around a Christmas dinner table by Arianna Huffington and a few friends, encouraged individuals and institutions to divest from the nation's largest Wall Street banks and move to local financial institutions. One year later, the campaign has been a major success, boasting over 36,000 supporters and coverage in more than 150 different media outlets. The Move Your Money project continues to give the disenfranchised American a chance to truly make a statement against the financial firms who wreaked havoc on our economy.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sara-ackerman/over-4-million-move-their_b_840536.html(I'm boycotting Huffington Post but have made an exception for Sara Ackerman. She's the project coordinator for the Move Your Money campaign.)
:)