Free Republic

Australians made $746 million in digital payments in 2018—that number soared to $93 billion in 2022.. A new all-in-one mobile app will offer what its developers claim is Australia’s first end-to-end digital banking platform for the country’s 2.4 million businesses with fewer than 10 employees. The announcement comes a day after Bankwest announced that it is closing 45 of its branches and transitioning the remaining 15 to Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) branches, going digital-only by October 2024. Bankwest is a subsidiary of the Commonwealth Bank, which trades on the Australian Stock Exchange. ... The new app, called Business+, was...

In a major push to seize control of the public’s financial freedom, Canada is radicalizing its banking system by linking citizens’ bank accounts to a tyrannical social credit score.The Canadian banking system will soon be transformed by a so-called “open banking” framework.Proponents are framing this as a more “inclusive” way for banks to easily share information and access user data.However, the move will merge social standings with banking to provide governments and unelected bureaucrats with complete control over our finances.The organization Open Banking Excellence (OBE), a World Bank partner that originated in the UK, boasts that it will incorporate social...

You might have missed it in the headlines, but US Bancorp recently initiated significant job cuts, with areas like talent acquisition and technology taking a hit. But what does this mean for the broader financial landscape? Well, let’s talk about multifamily commercial real estate (CRE) mortgages – a sector that’s been quietly raising red flags. While apartments have held up better than other segments like office and retail, cracks are starting to show, with some eye-popping defaults in recent months.

The United States government has been pouring millions of tax dollars into developing AI-powered tools to censor and blacklist dissent voices. This month, the House Judiciary’s Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government Committee revealed that the U.S. government is funding AI censorship technology via the National Science Foundation (NSF) to censor political debate on social media platforms.

What do the two have in common? They are both insidious threats to a free people. Central banks and espionage agencies are insidious threats to any free people. The former manipulate the value of money, and the latter manipulate the perceived truthfulness of information. Both ostensibly work for the broader public’s “best interest,” but as is true of all institutions, they ultimately serve the interests of those people who run them. Spies and bankers should not have so much power over free citizens. Both institutions are not only plainly anti-democratic but also inherently authoritarian. The central banker says, “Free markets...

Banks are growing increasingly confident in the capabilities of online banking, according to Steven Reider, the founder and president of Bancography, an Alabama-based consulting firm that advises banks on branch planning and strategies. That confidence can lead to significant savings since the average freestanding bank branch costs around $2.6 million a year. In just two months, Bank of America's 41 closures might have saved it almost $100 million. .....And now, credit unions are playing a more significant role than ever before - offering very similar services to traditional banks and eating up a share of the market. Unlike banks, their...

16 Republican AGs seek answers from Wells Fargo CEO Charles Scharf... ... debanking ... Wells Fargo is pushing the Biden administration's anti-gun and anti-traditional energy policies and discriminating against customers who don't fall in line with their political beliefs," Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen... As attorney general, it's my job to protect Montanans from discriminatory business practices. I will continue to investigate and fight against any illegal actions that could impact Montana businesses and consumers." ... Wells Fargo unexpectedly closed the business and personal accounts of Bradon Wexler, the owner of Florida-based firearms dealer Wex Gunworks, with a vague explanation...

New York Community Bancorp sent its shares plummeting 26% on Friday after the regional lender said has discovered “material weaknesses” in the ways it tracks loan risks and that its CEO is leaving. The New York-based firm announced late Thursday that CEO Thomas Cangemi would be leaving NYCB — capping off a 27-year tenure at NYCB — and that Alessandro DiNello would take his place, effective immediately. DiNello, NYCB’s executive chairman, had been acting as the bank’s true boss since earlier this month ... One NYCB director, Hanif “Wally” Dahya, said in a Feb. 25 letter that he “did not...

Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser got a 6% pay bump for her performance in 2023, a year the bank's profits dropped 38% and Fraser began a dramatic restructuring that will result in an estimated 20,000 job cuts. The board awarded her total compensation of $26 million, ... The $26 million for Fraser was the lowest among CEO rivals at JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley, who received between $29 million and $37 million. Bank of America's Brian Moynihan was the only CEO among this group to experience a compensation decline. ... Fraser had a lot...

State officials have threatened legal action against nonprofit climate alliances and banks’ participation, highlighting the contentious relationship between environmental initiatives and economic interests.

This headline from Zero Hedge makes me so glad I have eaten heart-healthy Quaker Oats and Cheerios every morning for the last 20 years! Study Finds 80% Of Americans Exposed To Fertility-Lowering Chemicals In Cheerios, Quaker Oats. The chemical (chlormequat chloride) was detected in “92 percent of oat-based foods purchased in May 2023, including Quaker Oats and Cheerios.” But that was nothing compared to this Zero Hedge headline: EU “Suicide Pact” Threatens To Flood Continent With 75 Million More Migrants. Makes me wonder if Biden/Mayorkas are under orders from the UN/WEF/Soros to let immigrants pour across our southern border (including...

President Joe Biden’s (D) administration has reportedly admitted what terms were used when federal investigators wanted banks to surveil Americans’ financial transactions after the January 6, 2021, protests. According to Fox News, the outlet obtained a letter wherein the government admitted that “MAGA,” “Trump,” and “Kamala” were among the terms, the news source said Friday.

Several Freedom Convoy protesters, buoyed by a recent victory in Canadian federal court, said they’re preparing to sue the federal government, banks, and the police that brought the 2022 protest to a heated end.(Illustration by The Epoch Times, Getty Images, Shutterstock)“I think it’s the second phase to what took place with the federal court case,” military veteran and plaintiff Eddie Cornell said. “We’ve got a big hill to climb, but it’s something that’s necessary. It has to be done.”On Jan. 23, Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley issued a ruling against the federal government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act in response...

Following a federal court ruling against the Canadian government for using the Emergencies Act during the trucker convoy, several plaintiffs plan to sue.. Several Freedom Convoy protesters, buoyed by a recent victory in Canadian federal court, said they’re preparing to sue the federal government, banks, and the police that brought the 2022 protest to a heated end. “I think it’s the second phase to what took place with the federal court case,” military veteran and plaintiff Eddie Cornell said. “We’ve got a big hill to climb, but it’s something that’s necessary. It has to be done.” On Jan. 23, Federal...

Farmers not sufficiently 'woke' can have accounts shut down without notice.. Farmers are under attack in multiple food-producing nations now... empty stores in France, where a climate agenda threatened the production processes for farmers, and they more or less staged a strike. ... And just recently, in Germany, farmers blocked highways in protest over costly and unnecessary agriculture policies. Now, however, there's a new campaign against farmers, in which the United Nations works with banks to debank the food producers, closing their accounts and not allowing them to operate their businesses. ... officials from 12 U.S. states have sounded an...

Heads up folks… I’ve been on my soapbox sounding the alarm about the banking system for the past several months. We had 6 banks crash and collapse last year in 2023 and many thought the Banking Crash was over. I kept telling you it wasn’t. I kept telling you I feared that was just the prelude. This is one of those times I wished I was wrong, but it’s not looking like I will be. In fact, it’s looking like the Bank Crash 2.0 is right around the corner. Here’s what’s happening right now as I type this: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\\\ Disclose.tv...

Banks are shutting hundreds of branches a year - this month some 41 closures were announced in a single week and among those affected were nine US Bank locations. Bank of America, Chase, PNC, Citizen, Capital One, First National Bank of Pennsylvania and Huntington also said they were axing branches. Such closures deal a huge blow to customers looking to visit in person to submit a document, make a withdrawal or deposit, cash in a check or simply run through their finances with a trusted bank manager. Others, particularly the elderly, may struggle with accessing banking services online due to...

His critics call him Prime Minister Zoolander after the vacuous male model in the movie of the same name. But Canada’s Justin Trudeau is someone much more sinister. That’s been obvious ever since the PM turned the federal government’s power on the COVID-mandate-protesting truckers of Canada’s Freedom Convoy in 2022, jailing them, seizing their rigs and even shutting down their bank accounts (“debanking,” as it’s known) — though that last came to a swift end when enough Canadians withdrew their money to threaten a bank run. We were told the truckers were “right-wing extremists,” probably racist and possibly agents for...

The recently-retired banking oracle - who forecast the 2008 housing crisis - made the dramatic prediction this week.. Bove, 83, claimed other analysts won't make the same admission because they're 'monks praying to money' who rely on the mainstream financial system.. It comes despite the collapse of its property sector, which accounts for roughly a quarter of the country's economy, and US growth ... China will soon overtake the American economy and the US dollar will catastrophically collapse, according to famed financial analyst Richard X Bove. In a characteristically histrionic forecast, the recently-retired 83-year-old banking oracle has announced that 'the...

Rising interest rates, the remote work trend, and the dominance of e-commerce sellers have combined to hammer the commercial real estate market over the past few years. Sky-high office and retail space vacancies are plaguing owners in this new environment, rents are plummeting, and borrowing costs have soared. As a result, U.S. commercial real estate prices have fallen 11% since the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates in March 2022, the IMF reported last week, the worst decline in over 50 years. The outlook for the sector is now so bleak that Cantor Fitzgerald’s billionaire chairman and CEO Howard Lutnick...