Ocasio-Cortez, other Democrats squeeze big banks on guns, immigration, climate
By Zachary Warmbrodt
More than a decade after Wall Street’s crash wrecked the global economy, House Democrats are threatening to stigmatize the nation’s biggest banks again. Progressive freshmen like Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) are joining with veteran lawmakers to try to shame the lenders into taking a stand on some of the country’s most divisive issues: climate change, gun violence and immigration. …“Banks are acutely sensitive about their reputations because they are in a business acutely susceptible to severe and sudden customer attrition if consumers vote with their wallets,” Federal Financial Analytics managing partner Karen Shaw Petrou said, citing Wells Fargo, the San Francisco-based lender that’s reeling from a series of embarrassing scandals. “As a highly regulated business, banks are also acutely aware of how changing reputations alter their political-risk profile and what Congress can do to them when and if desired.”
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/23/ocasio-cortez-banks-guns-immigration-climate-1289321
