Asheville-based Blue Ridge Savings Bank, chaired by former Congressman Charles Taylor, is seeking to right its ship after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. recently ordered the institution to stop an array of “unsafe and unsound” banking practices. Bank blues: Federal and state bank regulators have ordered Blue Ridge Savings Bank to cease a series of […]
Tag: banks
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Biz: Safe havens
With all the turmoil and confusion in the financial sector, it’s easy to believe that the carnage is endemic. But while the pall of doom is all too real, not every financial institution is in peril. Give them credit: While the banking and financial sectors are in a shambles, relatively cautious, conservative credit unions and […]
Askville: Madam president
While Hillary Clinton campaigns to become America’s first female president, Suzanne DeFerie has already made history—becoming the first woman president and CEO of an Asheville-based bank. Suzanne Deferie. Photo by Jonathan Welch Before assuming her new responsibilities at Asheville Savings Bank on Jan. 1, DeFerie, 51, had paid her dues, serving 16 years as executive […]
Climate change culture clash
With chants of “Stop mountaintop removal, it kills!” and “No more coal!” some 40 protesters—some dressed as canaries and polar bears—swarmed around the Bank of America on Patton Avenue around 2 p.m. on Aug. 13. A handful of the young activists entered the bank, where they dumped coal on the floor and locked themselves together […]
Dog day afternoon
Like a bank officer turning down a loan, Doug Stachura sat behind his desk late last week in his office at Bank of America’s main local branch, at 68 Patton Ave., with arms crossed resolutely. His gaze, while not unfriendly, spoke volumes. With two acts of protest against the Charlotte-based bank’s financing of coal companies […]
Policing the protest
At 2:10 p.m. on Aug. 13, the Asheville Police Department received a call about the protest at Bank of America. Later in the afternoon, they announced the arrests of five protesters inside the bank on charges of trespassing, failure to disperse and resisting arrest. photo by Jon Elliston Sgt. Lizz Budd was the first to […]
Sticking their necks out
The day before the demonstration at Bank of America, the activists gathered at the Southeast Convergence for Climate Action were feeling stressed out. Despite the tranquil wooded surroundings at their camp near Brevard, the solar-powered van providing their electricity and the spicy rice and vegetables being served up for lunch, the air crackled with tension. […]