NAFCU Launches Campaign to 'Stop Big Bank Bullies'
Campaign urges consumers to punish banks by joining a credit union.
CUNA brought light to consumers two years ago through its “Open Your Eyes to a Credit Union” campaign.
Now NAFCU has launched a darker “Stop Big Bank Bullies” campaign telling consumers how to counter the threat it said banks pose to credit unions.
Both campaigns steer for the same destination: Encouraging consumers to take their financial business to a credit union.
“Big Bank Bullies have attacked consumer-friendly credit unions for decades, and they’re at it again. With an army of lobbyists, they think they can bully credit unions and Congress,” the campaign website said. “We’re exposing the big banks so they can be held accountable.”
“Enough is enough! Put a stop to Big Bank Bullies. Join a credit union today.”
The message is repeated in a 44-second video reached through a link on the website. A female narrator speaks over somber music and dark visuals, including some with grim, old or middle-aged white businessmen. She ends:
“Big banks are abandoning underserved communities, while spending billions of dollars buying back shares of their own stock.
“Now the big bank bullies are trying to snuff out community-based credit unions who offer better rates and service to 127 million Americans across the country.
“Enough is enough. Stand up to big bank bullies. Join a credit union today.”
The NAFCU campaign website also mentioned the need for a modern Glass-Steagall Act, a law signed by Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 16, 1933, his first year in office and at the height of the Great Depression.
The day before, the American Bankers Association told member banks to send telegrams to President Roosevelt urging him to veto the Glass-Steagall bill, with its opposition focused on its creation of the FDIC insurance fund. At the time, ABA President Francis H. Sisson told members the “overwhelming opinion of experienced bankers is emphatically opposed to deposit guarantee which, compels strong and well-managed banks to pay losses of the weak.”
Democratic President Bill Clinton signed a law in 1999 that removed Glass-Steagall’s restrictions against affiliations between commercial and investment banks — a move some said contributed to the 2008 financial crisis and the ensuing Great Recession.
In September 2018, NAFCU issued a white paper calling for a modern Glass-Steagall Act that would prevent the FDIC’s insurance fund from covering losses from banks’ commercial and investment activities.
A bipartisan group of senators, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) introduced a “21st Century Glass-Steagall Act” in 2017, and a version was introduced in the House in 2019.
NAFCU SVP of Government Affairs Greg Mesack said the campaign was a response to repeated attacks by the ABA and the Independent Community Bankers of America against credit unions. While NAFCU still supports a modernized Glass-Stegall Act, Mesack said the campaign seeks to show consumers they can respond to banks’ behaviors by joining a credit union.
“The main focus of the campaign is to highlight for policymakers and consumers that the best way to stop the big bank bullies is to stop giving them money to line their pockets,” he said.