Financial industry good guys

msf

There's a lot of negativity here currently about the whole sector. See, e.g. posts in the WFC thread (several painting the whole sector with a broad brush), and my own comments on medical coverage complaints ("but they're no different than many of the others"). So I thought I'd post a few positives.
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One of my favorite good guys, one that caters to the "working man", is Amalgamated Bank. You can read about their history and service here. Not mentioned is their leadership in serving women. Back in those halcyon days when America was Great, banks refused to allow married women to open separate accounts. Amalgamated did.

Coincidentally (this is not why I'm posting), Amalgamated today announced an IPO. Originally completely union-owned, it has been 5/8 union-owned for a very long time. That will now drop to 40%.
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The long term care policy of a friend's parent lapsed through a series of mail missteps on the part of both the parent and the friend. The insurer had no legal obligation to reinstate the policy (that ship had sailed). But based on the circumstances and extended family history with the insurer, the insurer voluntarily reinstated the policy. I'm not naming the insurer (one of the majors) because this is likely a one-off incident. Nevertheless, sometimes they do the right thing.
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My neighborhood bank where I have a safe deposit box (and little else) has gotten to know me personally even though I'm in there infrequently. They provide free notary services (they even have a sign posted on their door) at a time when the majors within feet or blocks don't even have notaries.

They are in the process of merging with another neighborhood bank. They explained to customers why they rejected a merger from another bank and why they felt this was a good fit. They have extended hours for the couple of weeks when the systems will be merged, so that they are available in case people have problems. They have communicated every step of the way.
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None of these are big deals. They just show that not all financial institutions are evil all the time.

LewisBraham

@MSF I'm not even sure if "evil" is the right word. I feel it is almost banks' function within our system to behave badly as bubbles expand and get religion as they contract. Say you're the CEO of a large instituional bank who doesn't want to offer subprime loans to people who can't afford a home, but so and so institutional banker down the street decides it's a great way to increase the bottom line. And so your competitor bank's earnings are suddenly so much better than yours and your shareholders start to punish you for it. If you're a CEO of that bank, you could wind up losing your job for being "too ethical." There is intense pressure thus on these institutions to not only do what your competitors are doing but to push the envelope even further so your stock increases even more. Whatever is legal and sometimes not so legal gets tried as the bubble expands. Suddenly, when the bubble bursts and regulators step in, banks start to behave rationally again. There's a great book called A Short History of Financial Euphoria by John Kenneth Galbraith that explains how financial instituions entering a speculative phase where legal boundaries get pushed has happened again and again throughout history. It seems a basic part of capitalist life, and not everything that comes from it is evil. It does greese the wheels of commerce until it doesn't when things get pushed too far. I would think though small local banks like the ones you're describing are a different animal and can be less "evil."

Old_Joe

"A Short History of Financial Euphoria"- Thanks, Lewis. I love Galbraith... just placed this on hold at public library.

Ted

@ MFO Members: Let's not lose sight that everyone on the MFO Discussion Board has at one time or another bought or sold stocks and funds, had a mortgage on their home, use checking, savings, and credit card accounts, held a safe deposit-box, applied for a car loan, needed a certified check. Banks are no more or less evil that any other institutions. Too many of you are to quick to throw out the baby with the bath water.
Regards
Ted

Old_Joe

Well, maybe a little more evil...

Add: It's been my personal experience that the bigger the bank, the more prone to evil it is. And how did some of those big banks get to be so big? By buying out many of the smaller and better local and regional banks, driving out competition and acquiring their customer base.

Mark

and then there's Wells Fargo which will open up accounts for you whether you need/want them or not.

Old_Joe

Well now, that's certainly convenient! Talk about customer service!

VintageFreak

@msf Good Joke, your subject line

Crash

Most obvious unethical item related to this topic: check out the salaries of those Big Bank CEOs. No one is worth that much.

msf

Credit cards used to be issued by neighborhood banks. My first credit card when I started working and it was hard to get credit was with Gary-Wheaton Bank. I appreciated that and kept the card out of loyalty even after moving away. So I was young and naive, as were other customers:
https://money.cnn.com/galleries/2011/pf/1108/gallery.bank_customers_most_loyal/5.html

After a century in business the bank was acquired by First National Bank of Chicago and I dumped the card. Here's how First Chicago treated its credit card customers around the time it was gobbling up banks (1991):

The First Chicago Corporation said it had revoked thousands of credit cards held by residents of nine Northeastern states as part of a credit review of the economically weakened region.

The acknowledgement by First Chicago, the nation's third-largest issuer of credit cards, prompted a Massachusetts Congressman to demand that the Bush Administration investigate whether the region was the victim of economic discrimination.

"If this practice of geographic review is widespread, the major credit card companies may be engaging in a practice that is not only unfair but also threatens to undermine further the vitality of the Northeast economy," Representative Edward J. Markey, a Democrat, stated in a letter to Robert L. Clarke, the Comptroller of the Currency.

https://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/25/business/first-chicago-revokes-credit-cards.html

Evil? Not exactly, but there must be better ways of doing business. Especially when banks claim to be interested in their communities, as they all seem to say.

Crash

Then...... is evil the same as unethical? Of course, it's a matter of degree. Pardon my sarcasm, but what would it take for you to say something is evil?

msf

Honestly, I haven't given it that much thought. Though I do draw a distinction between amoral and immoral.

A board member at a small startup where I once worked later committed (and was convicted of) first degree murder. I was rather surprised when someone told me about it. Based on that, I'd say that evil is harder to recognize than one might think. (The villains don't all come twirling mustaches.)


You never know what sort of person you'll run into if you work long enough.

Crash

Good film clip. "(The villains don't all come twirling mustaches.)" Precisely my point. And I'm no perfect saint, either. But when we see it, let's call it what it is. Whether disguised, or violently in yer face. And I hasten to add that entire Systems must be included in the picture. Which makes the evil harder to see, because we are the fish that swim in that water.

davidrmoran

I know it when I see it (I think)

LewisBraham

I think systemic evils are the worst kind and difficult to change, yet it is important to always remember that within that system live good people and often people who want to do good but have no choice but to do evil to survive in that system:

“I have ever hated all nations, professions, and communities, and all my love is toward individuals: for instance, I hate the tribe of lawyers, but I love Counsellor Such-a-one, and Judge Such-a-one: so with physicians—I will not speak of my own trade—soldiers, English, Scotch, French, and the rest. But principally I hate and detest that animal called man, although I heartily love John, Peter, Thomas, and so forth. This is the system upon which I have governed myself many years, but do not tell...”
― Jonathan Swift

Crash

+1.

Old_Joe

@LewisBraham- Just finished "A Short History of Financial Euphoria"- Thanks again, Lewis. Vintage Galbraith... I love it.

LewisBraham

@Old_Joe Hey, I'm glad you liked it. It's a good one.