Why Small Banks Make More Small Business Loans

Date: 10 Feb 2010 | posted in: Banking, Retail | 5 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Although small and mid-sized banks control only 22 percent of all bank assets, they account for 54 percent of small business lending. Big banks, meanwhile, allocate relatively little of their resources to small businesses. The largest 20 banks, which now command 57 percent of all bank assets, devote only 18 percent of their commercial loan portfolios to small business. … Read More

Move Your Borrowing Along with Your Money

Date: 29 Jan 2010 | posted in: Banking | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

As we start down the path of breaking up with the big banks and defending our own economic interests and that of our communities, we should think about the whole range of financial services we use. We need to give thought to both the saving and lending sides of a bank. Each is crucial. On the savings side, community-based financial institutions need our deposits much more than the big banks do. But to be profitable community banks need to convert those deposits into loans. … Read More

Soaring Credit Card Transaction Fees Squeeze Independent Businesses

Date: 5 May 2009 | posted in: Banking, Retail | 8 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Independent businesses are largely at the mercy of Visa and MasterCard when it comes to the fees they must pay every time they swipe a credit card.  These fees, which are ultimately passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices, have soared from $27 billion in 2004 to $48 billion last year (or $427 per household). Recognizing the tremendous market power held by card processors, many countries now regulate credit card transaction fees, setting them at rates as low as one-sixth of what U.S. businesses pay.  … Read More

Financial Transaction Tax

Date: 24 Nov 2008 | posted in: Banking | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

financeThe delinking of money from place and productive investment is not the inevitable result of technological advances or economic evolution. Money is a human invention and rules that control its dynamic are also a human invention. To slow down the speculative and destablizing flow of money, John Maynard Keynes proposed a small financial transaactions tax in 1930.… Read More

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