Italian #3: A. P. Giannini

This man brought banking to the middle and lower-class masses but if he were alive today, modern financing would turn his stomach or maybe he’d be too busy working in the Third World promoting micro-lending to the poor. Much of Giannini’s perspective seems to be how credit unions operate today while banks have more in common with casinos and loansharking.

Up until the early Twentieth Century, banks were institutions only for the very wealthy. You couldn’t borrow money unless you had a lot already, seems like a circular fallacy. Giannini, the son of Italian immigrants, disagreed with this mindset so he formed The Bank of Italy in 1904. It was an enormous success, on the first day alone he took in $8800 in deposits ($210,000 today) and I’m confident he made many “risky” loans to numerous small businesses around San Francisco. He must’ve been doing something right, by the year’s end The BoI had $700,000 in deposits (over $16 million today).

After the 1906 earthquake, all the other local banks chose to sit tight and wait because they weren’t sure if enough survivors would stay, if the government would help, how much it would cost to rebuild, etc. They were waiting to see who would take the initial risks. Sound familiar? Giannini took a couple barrels and a plank, formed a table and said, “The Bank of Italy is now open for business.” Many credit him for saving The City by taking the lead.

Another innovation he brought was branch offices. In his era, banks were often just one building so their fates were often tied to their local economies. Giannini knew branches (across an entire state) helped the overall institution and its customers survive by spreading its assets.

Eventually he merged the Bank of Italy with LA’s Bank of America since its founder shared of his principles. Giannini led the newer, larger BoA until his retirement in 1945.

Giannini might be remembered for some crazy loans he issued too: one to this nut named Walt Disney who wanted to make a full-length animated feature called Snow White and two dudes working out of their garage, William Hewlett and David Packard.

Overall, A. P. Giannini is a CEO we need today because Jack Welch’s antithetical thinking is what dominates today and it’s killing us.