Bank of America Anne Finucane Assault Weapons Gun Makers
courtesy forbes.com
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Bank of America wants to make sure you don’t think that politics had anything at all to do with its decision to stop underwriting makers of “military-style firearms” after the Parkland shooting. Back when they announced the move following the Parkland high school shooting, we predicted that cutting off funding from gun companies that make “assault weapons” would have precisely zero effect on the number of spree shootings in the United states. So it’s good to hear the Bank of America Corp exec leading the no-guns-for-us campaign acknowledge that fact.

“We’re not solving the problem,” said Anne Finucane, Bank of America’s vice chairman, speaking at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women International Summit in London Tuesday morning. She noted that key issues around mental health and gun ownership are matters of public policy outside the bank’s purview.

Of course BofA isn’t solving the problem. They never expected to make even the slightest dent in the rate of “gun violence” in America. The decision to shun gun makers was private sector gun control implemented entirely as a corporate image-burnishing move to show how concerned and caring the banking giant is.

Just don’t make the mistake of thinking that politics had anything do with it, OK?

She also commented that the decision—which was made by Bank of America’s CEO Bryan Moynihan and Finucane (BAC, -0.50%), who also heads the company’s environmental, social, and governance committee—was not political, but aimed at “lowering the temperature of fear” among employees.

Got that? The nation’s second-largest bank did it for their employees.

“We did it because we felt fear among employees,” she said, adding that the bank had 150 employees and thousands of customers who had been personally affected by America’s scourge of gun violence.

They were scared. And now that BofA has announced that they won’t be lending to makers of weapons of war for civilian use, they feel much better.

It’s the same laughable rationale United CEO Oscar Munoz trotted out when he was asked by shareholders why his airline cancelled its NRA affiliate program.

Plus, the new policy is good for business, right?

Finucane said the move has cost the bank some business—both of military-style gun makers as well as of those who took issue with Bank of America’s decision—but she’s pretty sure it has also brought in some new customers as well.

Well, as long as she’s pretty sure.

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89 COMMENTS

  1. I stopped doing business with b of a years ago. It had nothing to do with fear.

    • Ditto, those….fine people (*extraordinarily heavy sarcasm)….did a number one America during the housing collapse of ’07

      I have zero respect or concern for any of the “to big to fail” banks.

      I hope Trump burns um to the ground.

      • I ditched them 25 years ago, after they merged my checking and savings accounts into one statement without asking or notifying me, then later told me there was no opt-out to go back to separate statements, and THEN were verbally rude to me as I visited our local branch (this was before Internet banking) to close everything out as I switched to another bank. I’ve never looked back.

    • HORSE SH*T
      They apparently weren’t “afraid” when Machine Gun Kelly, Bonnie & Clyde, & Al Capone were around.
      Does “fear” mean they have removed their armored windows in front of their tellers?
      Does this “fear” mean they don’t/won’t allow employees to have Carry Permits?

      Does this A** Hole really think we’re really dumb enough to believe her???

    • Gee, since cars kill more people on a daily basis than guns ever did, does that mean they are scared of cars and won’t lend $$ for them, too?
      Of course, that means they will all be walking to work; right?

      Golly, I’m scared of cars………

  2. I sent notice to them to cancel my credit card when they teamed up with Obama’s “Choke point” program. I have nothing to do with them for years now.

    • I’m taking an alternate tack. I’m going to buy myself a very nice gun with the cash back I’m getting from the Cash Rewards credit card I have from BoA. I’m going to take a picture and send them a nice letter thanking them for buying me a new gun.

        • Come to think of it, that is a good point. I worked for a large retailer and when we accepted a credit card we were hit with 1.5% user fee from that issuer. We were under pressure to push the store brand credit card so they didn’t have to pay the third party fee.

        • No, it comes from the credit card company fees to the merchant. The store doesn’t get any more money if I use a credit card without cash back. So, unless you’re advocating for everyone to pay cash to “save the merchants” since I don’t otherwise get a cash discount I don’t understand your comment.

  3. They also prohibit ceramic coffee mugs in their break rooms, ’cause someone could drop one, it could shatter, and a shard could put someone’s eye out.

    Better safe than stupid, (I mean “sorry”. Oops.).

    • How best to screw B of A? Yes, open a credit card account to take advantage of the $150 credit for spending $500 in the first 3 months, but destroy the plastic card after you have applied the credit balance and leave a credit balance of a few cents in the account. This way B of A will be sending you monthly statements until dooms day. I figure it costs them about $1 to send out a monthly statement.

    • How best to screw B of A? Yes, open a credit card account to take advantage of the $150 credit for spending $500 in the first 3 months, but destroy the plastic card after you have applied the credit balance and leave a credit balance of a few cents in the account. This way B of A will be sending you monthly statements until dooms day. I figure it costs them about $1 to send out a monthly statement.

      • Citicorp also has anti-gunowner policies. They have an offer of $100 credit for opening a credit card and spending $500 in 6 months. Lets pull the same trick with them.

  4. Such hypocrites, and I guess they stopped allowing drive up customers because the tellers were afraid of a drive by ! Hope they go under !

  5. who also heads the company’s environmental, social, and governance committee—was not political

    That is a laughable statement. Any company that has a committee to oversee social or diversity issues can not be taken seriously.

  6. “On December 27, 2011, Julia LaRoche wrote in Business Insider that Moynihan “admitted the proposed $5 monthly fee for debit card users wasn’t the best idea”. She quoted him as saying: “We struck a chord with customers that no one anticipated. We learned our lesson and stopped it.”[16] It was later reported that the failed fee plan led to a 20% increase in account closures during the last three months of 2011.[17] In late January 2012, Moynihan stated:
    What we need to do is to continue to fine-tune the company, give capital ratios where people understood that we had the capital we knew we had. And then they saw that and that’s why you saw some response in the stock….The core issue now is to drive the core earnings, and we’ve got to get the costs down in the company, which we’re working on. And then as the economy continues to move along, even at the 2 percent growth level, we’ll start to materialize more and more earnings, and that’s what we need to do.” ” – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Moynihan

    (D)bag Moynihan was under the $5Billion influence of POS (D) globalist Warren (tax-free-muni’s) Buffet.

    Your anti-gun sh_t should hurt your bottom line at least as much as that $5 monthly fee.

    I’ll try hard to not let anyone forget your policies.

  7. Pot, kettle, black. Let’s talk about the time Bank Of America was sued and settled out of court to the tune of $67 million dollars for defrauding their customers in overdraft fees. Last year, no less. Seems like their actions up to that point were making their customers afraid.

  8. I stopped reading as ‘spree shooting’ — can’t trust a ‘publication’ that can’t use the correct terms…

    • Yo are so right maynardb. Unli,ke you, I read the entire thing to see what other excrement she was going to spew. Have you noticed how many people who are in ‘power’ are completely ignorant of common facts, grammar and the proper use of the English language?

    • Ethnic? No. But they are discriminating against ammosexuals and I, for one am ready for our civil rights march.
      🤠

  9. ““We did it because we felt fear among employees,” she said, adding that the bank had 150 employees and thousands of customers who had been personally affected by America’s scourge of gun violence.”

    Fear, huh?

    Like the fear many White women felt when Blacks could finally sit at the front of the bus next to them?

    Those women got over that fear. BoA’s employees can get over their fear the same way…

  10. It has been several years since I dropped BOA and went with someone else. They had and still have a bad attitude, a co-worker of mine who use to work for them said as soon as she quit she took her business elsewhere, “because they are evil.” The main reason they are still in business, I suspect, is that people are too lazy to close out their accounts.

    • They are still in business because the puny consumer accounts make no difference to their bottom line. They do not, may never have, cared for the little customer. They would rather lend on mortgages that they resell, large loans to commercial operations, and their credit card business that is earning them obscene amounts of money because of their usurious interest rates (thanks, Joe Biden), far more than they would make investing in the stock market (although they probably do that too).

  11. Banks exist first and foremost to serve themselves. Any good they do for their customers is incidental.

    The State of Florida uses Bank of America as the statewide Visa purchasing card. With income like that, and I’m sure they have other sweetheart deals locked up, they can afford to put the screws to their customers.

    Don’t like it? Contact Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis and tell him why:

    https://myfloridacfo.com/askFLDFS/
    tel:1-877-693-5236

  12. Ok BofA, if your employees are really afraid, please remove all armed security from your bank locations right away.

  13. This move was enough for me to send my cut up credit card back.
    Fear huh. What BS…….. Its laughable.
    Chase holds my mortgage. Guess what Id like to do to them over it.
    Anyone got a match???

  14. I’m sure that any employee who was afraid of losing their rights would have been Damore’d shortly.

  15. Liberalism is a mental disorder. The BOA statement is living, written proof. Let’s all light candles and pray for the imminent collapse of the BOA empire.

  16. I think a rebranding should be mandatory. “America” shouldn’t be associated with these fools.

    Akin to Wendy’s twitter burn of Ihob, perhaps Bank of America should be the Bank of Cowards because being American is too hard.

  17. Geez I doubt I can get my wife to drop her BOA account…at least ’till she gets that class action settlement(which she mentioned TODAY)😄

      • Over time, two different name brand national companies that I used were losers in class action suits. Although hundreds of millions were awarded in both cases, no individual would receive more than $25 dollars AFTER researching years of records to determine the exact amount of loss suffered. The loss had to be proven, regardless of the amount, in order to get any compensation. In both cases, I knew, without research that my “loss” was greater than the amount to be awarded. These happened years ago, and at the time it seemed the notifications indicated the attorneys would keep any monies not paid to the represented class. Seem to remember that laws were changed, and attorneys can no longer keep “surplus” awards.

  18. And Barnicle has supported heavy ammo tax, mandatory gun insurance to make gun ownership prohibitively expensive. He is an extreme gun control nut

  19. I’m now waiting for my last rewards cash on my B of A card and then it will be canceled. I’ve already got my replacement card that I’m using now. Wish I’d have done it sooner.

  20. This is part of a focused effort by a charity with a five million a year charity donation income involving about 40 full time professionals and whose only activity is attack any company doing any business with NRA, firearms makers or retailers.

    It is modeled on Jessie Jackson’s “Rainbow/Push” racket which runs in many ways like a organized crime protection/extortion scheme. The targeted company’s main response is actually to give its own money to the scheme creating perfect vicious circle.

    I will bet that when BoA charitable contributions come out you will see a tax deductible contribution to the gunsdownamerica group or one of the tax free “philanthropic” foundations funneling money into it.

    the corporations do this because it also provides cover for their actual bad or unethical or even criminal business progress.

  21. ‘She also commented that the decision—which was made by Bank of America’s CEO Bryan Moynihan and Finucane (BAC, -0.50%), who also heads the company’s environmental, social, and governance committee…’

    Well there’s your first problem. Letting company execs make policy decisions with a blood alcohol content over 6 times the legal driving limit is a recipe for disaster.

    • You can’t seriously expect Moynihan to allow to much blood to permeate his alcohol stream, now can you?

    • You can’t seriously expect Moynihan to allow too much blood to permeate his alcohol stream, now can you?

    • 6.5 creedmore is flatter shooting, and hits harder at range.
      .308 Win is the superior choice for the beginning shooter because it is cheap and available at every Walmart that sells ammo.

  22. Too bad they don’t give a damn about customers!! I know of several people who went through Bank of America for home loans and were treated like they were from another planet! Screwed up everything and caused lots of problems during the course of application, approval, etc.( One case involved a Nurse Practitioner and a biochemist and Bank of America was worried about income and had these people jumping through hoops for a loan). I wonder how much trouble real losers have getting a loan with these people…probably not much, I’d wager!! I have been told by these people they would NEVER do business with them again! Who does Bank of America think they are kidding?? The banks’ move had everything to do with politics and NOTHING to do with employees (or customers for that matter.)

  23. As one of BoA’s former associates, I can assure you that the “sense of fear” among the proles had nothing to do with gun violence…career violence perpetrated by Moynihan and Miss Anne, maybe…but definitely not gun violence.

    Like an earlier poster said, open a CC, spend $500, get $150 in cash back bonus, then close it immediately. If you don’t carry a balance, they can’t make money.

    And, by the way, do all your transactions inside, face to face, if you have the time…it costs them $$$ every time someone walks though the door.

  24. B of A has been very good to me. So good that it will take far more than liberal posturing to turn me against them. If liberal posturing was sufficient to turn me against someone I would have to disown my family and most of my friends.

    I give credit where credit is due regardless of the politics. involved. Based on my experiences I will still recommend B of A to anyone who asks. I will explain their politics so as best as I can as to give as full of information as I can.

    It hurts to say and do this, but I cannot shit on those who have been very good to me.

    Gordy

    • “If liberal posturing was sufficient to turn me against someone I would have to disown my family and most of my friends.”

      And this would be bad, how?

      How can someone who lives to restrict your human rights (liberals) actually be a friend. Perhaps “acquaintance” is the word you seek.

      • A friend who is VERY liberal who I had not seen in 30 years with another friend I had not seen in the same amount of time drove 700 miles to visit me for one day. They noticed that I had a flat and my tires were worn out. They bought me a new set of tires over my objections. Without their aid over a year ago I would still be car less today.

        When I had my stroke which took out my good side (my other side had pinched nerves all up and down my spine), I called another very liberal friend and said “_____ I think I had a stroke. Can you come over and help”. She replied “I have to drop the kids off at school. I will be there in 45 minutes”. She had no idea what she was walking into. As far as she knew she might have to wipe my butt. She did not hesitate and got here as quick as she could.

        These are not “acquaintances”. These are true friends. WE may be political opposites but they have my back. What more can I say?

        • You report episodes of people displaying features of friendship, but were they just chalking up another “feel good” moment for themselves? Like merit badges?

          Seriously, it is great that political enemies can interact peacefully. But when the day comes, will those actions exempt your friends from necessary rewards for trying to make a slave of you? While in government service, working in a next of liberals, there were many who were quite nice and companionable. Even shared lunches and home visits. However, regardless of the hospitality, I always remembered these were “subjects”, not citizens, who would have not a second thought jailing me for being a gun owner, had they known.

  25. Someone mentioned a Credit Union. We use one, extremely happy with it. At least three employees are concealed carry. I just haven’t asked if they carry at work. Wonder when someone’s gonna find out, the hard way.

  26. Our entire family dumped the Bank of Italy (now known as B of A) years ago when we and the rest of the world caught them in illegal practices concerning NSF fees when the $ was in their greedy hands. Credit unions are non-profit and the American way to go. Just compare rates and public data on fines for fakery and wrong balances. The banks are like actors and entertainers, they should stick to their jobs and keep the hell out of politics, we do not care what they think.

  27. Their “fear” does not trump OUR RIGHTS! That said, We bailed your asses out and now you want to play politics?! FBA!

  28. Myself, I’m afraid of massive clueless institutions that will freeze out harmless folks, ruining their lives on a whim with no recourse or consideration. They’ll cut you off, at any time, for any reason or none with no warning or less. Then, maybe crow about it, standing on the wreck they’ve made of your life. Yeah, for the children.

    This seems familiar.

    They’re unilaterally cutting people who have done nothing wrong out of the economic system. And themselves feeling smug for doing it. Big corporations getting in line with the informal, discretionary preferences of the government, in activities where the law as written has no comment. Huh. If only there were a word for something like that…

    I fear I cannot comment further without descending into othering and denigration beyond my own standards — no matter how deplorable, “irredeemable” even, our B of A pervaricators are. Yeah, I almost went Full Harry Reid their and accused them of something they didn’t do, on only the basis that the accusation would damage them. Never go full Harry Reid.

  29. I would chew off a thumb before I’d do business with BoA.
    If I need banking, i have two credit unions I’m a member, not a customer, of.
    And the law prevents this goofy lady from buying them and taking over.

  30. I’m afraid of stewardesses and anyone else who works for United Airlines. Same reason they receive worst corporation and worst airline of the year for as long as I can remember. I won’t fly their crap, insulting airline for free and that’s not just boastful talking.

  31. Did you stop doing business with automobile and medical companies too? Your employees should be even more afraid of them, because vehicles and prescription drugs are far greater causes of accidental death in the U.S. (#2 and #1 respectively) than firearms!

  32. I have not ever and will definitely not do business with B of A. They are a bunch of two-faced and bald-faced liars.

  33. Libertarians hate big government. But love massive companies. Both Rush Limbaugh and Libertarians have one thing in common. They were against the forced breakup of ATT. Even tho both of them say they support competition in business. They both say they were against the bank bail out. But a massive group of banks who refuse service to a select group, seem to not warrant their interest.

    As a conservative I totally support breaking up these banks “that are to big to fail”. If the private firearms business goes out of business, civilians will not have access to guns. But the government will ALWAYS have guns.
    And Liberty will go away in this country.

  34. Bank of America is known in the mortgage business as Banc de Mexico because they cater to illegal immigrants and they did their best to screw American citizens during the housing collapse to make up the cost of their chosen business model. I have not and will not do business with them. As for this BS, what a line ofthe carp.

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