When I move to a new city, one of the first things I do is learn more about history of the city — photo essays, documentaries, even travel guides. One of my favorite stories from San Francisco ties nicely in with my increasing anger towards the way customers are treated in this country.
Amandeo Giannini founded the bank of Italy in San Francisco, California shortly before the 1906 earthquake that leveled the city. A pioneer in microfinance, the Bank of Italy was the ‘go to’ bank for new immigrants and the risky folks that traditional banks didn’t lend to. When the city burned to the ground after the 1906 quake, Giannini’s quick thinking prevented the total destruction of his most valuable resource - the banks money. He hid all the funds in a food cart, covered it with a tarp and some junk, and wheeled the money right out of the city.
The Bank of Italy returned to SF with their money, and once again provided loans to help people rebuild their houses and the city itself. The story goes that Giannini would loan money to anyone in the city - based only on a handshake and promise of repayment. Every loan was repaid.
Wow - great story - a bank built on micro-loans and truthful lending practices.
Ten years later Giannini’s bank of Italy merged with and became the bank of America.
Today, Bank of America relies on increasing transaction costs and fee income to stabilize their business. Instead of looking out for, and lending to the common man, Bank of America prefers to charge you for your business. They also they charge you for viewing your bank balance at another ATM, and they charge you to buy a BART ticket.
What happened?
