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Banks Targeted in Divestment Campaign and by Faith-Based Shareholder Activism April 29th, 2012
Churches and faith-based shareholders alike have been taking action against big banks that have failed to respond to the plight of homeowners and others seriously affected by the financial crisis. The Missionary Oblates have been actively engaging the big banks and financial institutions in an effort to deal with some of the underlying problems that have caused so much pain to so many.
Recently, members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) facilitated the participation of VOICE (Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement) in the Detroit AGM of GE Capital. VOICE is a faith-based community organization representing people who have lost their homes or whose houses are threatened by the on-going foreclosure crisis. GE Capital holds some of these mortgages and has been resistant to negotiation of the mortgage terms.
See our related post on the demonstrations outside the recent Well Fargo AGM in San Francisco.
Usury is Alive and Well March 11th, 2012
“You would think by now that banks and other financial institutions would have been chastened some by the scrutiny and criticism that they received during the near meltdown of the financial system in September 2008 and its aftermath. Judging by the aggressive path that some have adopted in the payday lending arena, I am sorry to report that some banks have quickly beaten a path back to their old behaviors. Constrained from many of the usual profit making services that were part of their pre-crisis business models, many have been looking at additional fees for such things as ATM withdrawals or late payments and other increased charges to make up the lost income.”
Read the latest Huffington post blog entry from Fr. Seamus Finn, OMI
Faith-based Shareholder Activists Profiled in NY Times November 14th, 2011
Photo from Associated Press
Religious groups have worked through the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility for 40 years to encourage corporations to ‘do the right thing’ by people and the environment. Sr. Nora Nash, of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia and active in faith-based shareholder activism since the 1980’s, was profiled in the Sunday edition of the New York Times. She explained their involvement thus: “We’re not here to put corporations down.We’re here to improve their sense of responsibility.”
Seamus Finn, OMI – also deeply involved in the ICCR dialogs with the banks as well as other corporate sectors, was cited in the article: “Companies have learned over time that the issues we’re bringing are not frivolous,” said the Rev. Seamus P. Finn, 61, a Washington-based priest with the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and a board member of the Interfaith Center. “At the end of every transaction, there are people that are either positively or negatively impacted, and we try to explain that to them.”
