Meanings
bankfare1
- derogatoryinformalneologismsometimesuncommonuncountableSupport for banks from government or other institutions.
Bank profitability is on the mend, but it's not translating into more loans, Mr. Levy said. He attributed the bounce in bank earnings to “bankfare,” his term for the steep yield curve.
1992 August 10, Kelley Holland, “Levy Institute Bears Foresee a Slump in '93”, in American Banker, page 23 more examples
Bankfare, the Fed's version of welfare that kept interest rates kind to banks burdened with bad mortgages, can no longer be counted on to support prices. Bank stocks now will stand or fall on the success of operations cleanups and strategic growth, Hayes said.
1995 April 7, Peg Brickley, “Most local stocks post strong first-quarter gains”, in Rochester Business Journal, volume 10, number 51, page 12Forget welfare and workfare. We need bankfare, where federal and provincial governments help down-and-out types set up their own banks. Once the formerly unemployed have their banks up and running and are making gobs of money, and in a position to give the economy a real kickstart, they'll be able to do what the real banks do, and start laying people off by the thousands.
1995 December 16, Linwood Barclay, “Short of cash? Start your own bank”, in Toronto Star, page G.1The only way to protect taxpayers from the gutter morality of the casino bank is a full separation of High Street and investment banking. The abuses of Welfare UK may be an outrage in urgent need of reform, but so is Bankfare Britain.
2013 April 6, “Pass the Salz”, in Daily Mail, London, page 100
bankfare2
- informalneologismuncountableThe debanking of an opponent, often only to attack, harass, or intimidate.
We talk about lawfare- I think we should talk about bankfare. [Larry Kudlow: Yes, yes] This is war on the right from the Biden administration. They politicized things that never should have been politicized.
2025 August 6, 7:10 from the start, in Kudlow, spoken by John Carney, via FOX Business
Origin
bankfare · noun
From blend of bank + warfare, modelled after lawfare.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
bankfare. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bankfare
“bankfare.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bankfare. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bankfare,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bankfare.
Source: bankfare on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.