Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

Public Bank NYC

Public Bank NYC

  • To Achieve Real Financial Accountability, New York City Needs a Public Bank

    The push for public banking (photo: @PublicBankNYC)


    Here’s something that might surprise you: Almost all of the $100 billion in revenue New York City will collect this year to pay for schools, buses, and other public services will be deposited in three big banks – JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citi. That’s because New York State requires local governments to put our public funds in banks, essentially handing Wall Street a lucrative monopoly that it has lobbied to uphold...

  • Competing Visions of Public Banking in New York City

    compete vis bank

    A Wall Street rally for public banking (photo: @PublicBankNYC)


    In recent memory public banking was an idea that belonged either to a distant utopian future or a distant populist past. But today, not only is public banking on the agenda of major New York politicians, but competing visions of public banking are on offer.

    The coalition Public Bank NYC (PBNYC) is running a grassroots effort to create a public bank for New York City, while mayoral candidate Andrew Yang proposes to initiate public banking through the mayor’s executive authority. Despite

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