TPA Slams Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s Over Calls to “Break Up” Citibank

For Immediate Release 

Contact: Kara Zupkus (224) 456-0257

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) is sounding the alarm on calls to break up Citibank. Recently, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) issued such a call after the bank was hit with sanctions by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). This would be particularly destructive. Even the OCC stated that imposing harsher sanctions like this would be a significant escalation that should only be used in most extreme of cases. 

In response, TPA President David Williams offered the following comment:

“Senator Warren’s call to break up Citibank is just another instance of her disguising government power grabs as mere economic populism.  Her criticisms of recent antitrust cases, for example, often overlook the pro-consumer and pro-competitive reasons for these deals. Similarly, there is little justification for such drastic action against Citibank.

“The OCC is doing its job of adequate oversight of Citibank. However, Senator Warren is calling for this escalation out of a desire to punish large, successful American firms. Antitrust is meant to protect American consumers. Unfortunately, proponents of actions like these are more interested in scoring political wins over big companies rather than improving the lives of their constituents.

“Whatever steps need to be taken in light of the OCC’s sanctions, Citibank should be allowed to course correct in what the experts determine is an acceptable timeline. Politicians pressuring authorities to act prematurely moves these highly sensitive cases from the realm of experts to the realm of partisan politics. Considering the importance of a robust financial sector for the wellbeing of the American economy, that could be the worst possible outcome for American taxpayers.”

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Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to educating the public through the research, analysis and dissemination of information on the government’s effects on the economy.