Occupy protests: a four step guide to bypassing high-street banks

Occupy protests: a four step guide to bypassing high-street banks

You've read about the Occupy Wall Street and London protests and you know about corporate greed (and the banking bail-out) but how can you do something about it?


Strategy 1: Switching bank accounts

When you deposit money with major banks, you may be indirectly supporting negative activities. You are also providing them with a cheap source of funding that they can use to subsidise more risky aspects of their business, like investment banking trading.


Strategy 2: Investing directly in ethical alternatives

If you are looking to invest any spare cash you have, consider ethical investment funds (see the Ecologist's guide to ethical investments). Check any prospectus of an ethical fund to see what their investment philosophy is. Many of them operate on the (often shallow) principle of ‘negative screening’ – not investing in bad things. Others take a more proactive stance, deliberately investing in companies seen to have a positive environmental and social impact. A small minority are ‘activist funds’, which take ownership positions in companies in order to reform them or keep a watch on them.


Strategy 3: Don’t give them interest – Borrow from alternative sources

If you’re going to pay interest on a bank loan, you might as well pay it to a socially responsible bank, but what about leaving banks behind entirely? Next time you need a personal loan, consider experimenting with the emergent technologies of peer-to-peer (‘P2P’) finance. Zopa is a well-known example, allowing you to obtain personal loans directly from another individual without a bank taking a cut in the middle.


Strategy 4: The final frontier – Hitching up with alternative currencies

Perhaps the most subversive strategy is to delink from the mainstream currency system. Localised complementary currencies are already being piloted in several areas, including the Brixton Pound, Lewes Pound and Totnes Pound. These aim to keep money circulating within a local area, promoting small independent business. The Brixton pound team has recently added an innovative pay-by-text scheme, based on the Monea system. These need popular support to gain strength, so how about piloting a scheme in your own area?


A few controversial ideas there but worth thinking about .. from little acorns and all that ..