'Occupy Wall Street' Protests Gaining Traction

Though they lack focus, the protesters have expressed anger at banks and financial institutions.

What started out as a collection of a few dozen protesters, the so-called "Occupy Wall Street" movement has grown into a cast of thousands. Though the group's main encampment is the Financial District of New York, similar protests have spread to other American cities in recent days.

At the Bank Systems & Technology Executive Summit and Elite 8 awards dinner in Phoenix earlier this week, there was a buzz among attendees regarding the protests. Of course, anger -- whether warranted or not -- has been expressed by some people towards the banking industry since the recession of 2008, though it seems to be at a fever pitch at the Occupy Wall Street protests.

Our fellow UBM TechWeb media brand Advanced Trading recently went down to the epicenter of the movement to try and find out more about the protester's goals, while also getting some responses from Wall Street financiers.

Bryan Yurcan is associate editor for Bank Systems and Technology. He has worked in various editorial capacities for newspapers and magazines for the past 8 years. After beginning his career as a municipal and courts reporter for daily newspapers in upstate New York, Bryan has ... View Full Bio