Amadeo Peter Giannini: The World's Bigger Banker (Part 2 of 2)

This is the second part of the story of Amadeo PeterThe event created an uproar and many other
Giannini, an Italian emigrant who arrived in America stilldirectors and producers asked to be financed, but
in his mother's womb. Amadeo was born in 1870 inGianinno wasn't interested only in commercial ventures
San José California, and starting withoutwith economical goals.
anything, in just 40 years he was able to create theIn 1922, the Bank of Italy had 61 branches. Considering
world's biggest bank.the incredible expansion, the consultants of the bank
At that time a socially liberal vision like this waswanted to offer him $50.000 a year above his salary.
common in the USA, where Ford, increased salaries ofAmadeo who had already saved a fortune, of nearly
his employees, transforming them into potential buyers$500,000, who was faithful to his principles, refused the
of his cars. And also in Italy, some illuminated industrialsoffer, noting that whoever wanted to have more than
built houses for their own employees and subsidizedhalf a million dollars should have run to a psychiatrist.
schooling for their children.Between 1927 and 1929 the Bank of Italy issued with
The more that the deposits grew, the more GianniniNATIONAL CURRENCY bills which were legal
offered loans and subsidies. And the incrediblecurrency in the United States.
increase in deposits demonstrated that he was rightIn the first month of 1928, in the era of financial
which reached $700,000 in one year.euphoria, Giannini made revenues with his participation
But for the other bankers in San Francisco liberalin the bank of Italy a million and a half dollars, but since
ethically innovative strategy seemed not onlyhe didn't want to become to rich, he decided to give
revolutionary but also dangerous and so they declaredthe total amount to the University of California for
war on him. There were rumors that The Bank of Italyresearching agricultural technology.
had difficulties and a lot of their clients went as low asSeven years after the experience "Il monello", Giannini
to take their savings out of the bank. Amadeo whobecame good friends with Walt Disney whom he
had also anticipated more difficult moments and hadbelieved to be a genius and he spent time with him
accumulated huge gold reserves, so he immediatelydiscussing not only non verbal communication but the
put big tables outside the bank where he put the goldpower of the images in communication.
reserves and stacks of banknotes and the clientsAfter a decent success with the short film of Mickey
were then ashamed, in front of all the richness, to askMouse, Giannini's sensed that there were great
for their savings back.possibilities for cartoons and he financed the first
In April 1906 the deposits surmounted a million dollars.feature length Disneyfilm in color called "Snow White
And that was when the tragedy occurred. On the 18thand The Seven Dwarves" Once again the film was
of April 1906 an earthquake of biblical proportionsmuch more successful than they had expected. Walt
destroyed San Francisco. There were aftershocksDisney became famous all over the world. Giannini
that transformed the city into a mass of smoulderingwas tired of making money and became the financial
ruins. The ones who survived the earthquake walkeddirector of his friend's company that was by now
around the streets like ghosts, crying, praying andfamous.
looting.In 1930 the Bank of Italy was named "Bank of
Giannini, along with his partners, used his step father'sAmerica National Trust and Saving Association".
fruit carts to transport Bank of Italy's money and goldIt's important to note that, when the Bank of Italy
to a safe place which he hid in his semi destroyedclosed it's books and examined the suspended
fireplace in his house.transactions, they realized that 96% of loans without
The other banks in the city not only lost a large part ofguarantees were reimbursed by 96% of the total that
their capital, due to fires, but also there account books,was payed out, and so overall, considering the interest,
so they weren't able to reopen for at least a month .the bank didn't suffer any losses on loans given to the
Amadeo Giannini, who knew every single client as wellpeople that weren't well off.
as their financial situation, opened his bank only afterOn the contrary, the big bankers that accepted only
six days, creating a makeshift office in his brother'speople with money, while in times of crisis had
half-destroyed house, who was a doctor. He hung outconsiderable losses. And they didn't forgive Giannini's
the burned sign which he had found. He also put a signforesightedness.
in plain view which he had painted during the night,In 1931 Giannini had to deal with the most difficult event
which read: "Loans like before, more than what wasof his life. He got polio, and he was cured not only for
given before".the intense cures that he had undergone, but above all
The new bank of Italy was literally mobbed withthanks to battle to not become excluded from Bank of
crowds of families affected by the disaster in need ofAmerica.
everything, who withdrew their savings, or asked forAs soon as the rumors went around about his illness, a
loans. Giannini was happy to give money to whoeverlot of enemies - lead by the Transamerican Elisha
asked, without asking questions, only making a note ofWalzer, by J.P Morgan and by members of the
their names and the amount.Federal Reserve, who were associated as being
But that wasn't enough.nasty vultures from Wall Street
After two days of the rush of the needy he left theGiannini's reaction was absolutely energetic. Even
makeshift office for his partners to manage andconsidering his health conditions he actively took part in
together with his stepfather he went to the otherthe battle to regain control of the bank, and faced with
areas of the city, with a small cash box with money. .this problem, his health miraculously improved
Amadeo went to the devastated areas of Sanunexpectedly. He regained his strength in a time that
Francisco, the tent camps, offering loans withoutcouldn't be explained by doctors, and with the support
interests and filled his pockets with papers signed byof many people who benefited, he regained control of
immigrants from all over the world, sometimes markedthe institution that he had created.
with a cross.Amadeo Peter Giannini wasn't particularly interested in
We can ask ourselves: how could Giannini loan all thisthe cinema. He liked only a few authors that through
money to everyone? How could he continue to gofilm told stories that improved people's lives. He said
on? After only a few weeks the old clients camethat the fairy tales or parabolas- today we can call
back who had withdrawn their savings from the bank.them fictions - were instruments good for transmitting
And as soon as the other banks opened , a lot ofvalues and traditions to new generations, and after
people withdrew their savings to bring it to the Giannini,Disney he helped another fairy tale creator Frank
the gentleman. Besides that, a lot of immigrants whoCapra.
had never been in a bank before, picked up all theirFrank was a Sicilian who arrived with his family in
savings in gold from the houses in ruins and decided toCalifornia as a boy. He became an engineer and then
deposit them in the Bank of Italy.lost his job because of the crisis in '29 and after some
Giannini became the emblem of reconstruction of Sanvariations of his fortune, he casually made his way to
Francisco, not as much for the money but for theHollywood where he discovered the world of cinema.
sense of security that he had transmitted, and for hisHe became Giannini's friend there, who he became
optimism and his faith in the people who had lostdevoted to Giannini, because he saw his own father in
everything. Amadeo gave people the desire andGiannini.
courage to try again, above all in the immigrantSince there was a reciprocal admiration, in 1934
communities who irreversibly became Bank of ItalyAmadeo financed his first successful film called "Once
customersupon a night...", and the collaboration continued in 1936
In the poor area of North Beach, the Italian communitywith "Happiness is coming" and in 1938 with "The
became an important player in the reconstruction andeternal illusion".
North Beach became the centre of new businessFrank and Amadeo loved to speak in Italian and often
ventures and entrepreneurs in San Francisco. Thisdeveloped the scenes of the films together. Giannini
experience convinced Amadeo Peter to be a bankerloved Capra's narration that exposed the dramatic
for the rest of his life.situation in America- a reality based on competition,
And he had incredible success. Giannini's famethat justified the non interest of others and promoted
became a legend, his acts of good will were told alclimbing the social ladder - who originated a society
over the Pacific coast. With his faith in his courage andthat was conditioned by subtle power of mass media,
his moral integrity a stream of new clients from allwhere the economical lobby controlled politics, but with
over. Everyone wanted to deposit their money in theeverything, it seemed like an offer of blackmail, even if
Bank of Italy.this liberation came about often through a miracle like
The reconstruction of San Francisco, which was thewhat happens in fairy tales. It's a demonstration that it's
main pacific port at the time, attracted a lot of smallpossible to escape from the nightmare, and that there
and big investors, and a lot of money was deposited inis still space for dreams.
Giannini's bank.As mentioned earlier, Amadeo didn't play up to the
In 1909 a law went into effect in the USA that allowedcinema world, but as an important banker he knew
a system of "branch banking", or in other words thethat in this world, he knew that he would have made a
opening of branches in other cities.lot of money for the bank. Once again he called his
Only a few bankers knew how to use the new law.brother Attilio from New York, and asked him to
Giannini went to the Atlantic coast and then tomanage the cinema sector.
Canada, where the new system of banks wasBetween 1932, and 1952, Bank of America financed
already in use.over 500 films, and invested over half a billion dollars.
As we have learned, until now the American banksHowever Amadeo Giannini wasn't only fascinated by
worked only for the rich people, excluding immigrantsdreams of cinema.
and small farmers. But Giannini, who knew the situationIn 1932, the "dreamer" Joseph Strass, designer of the
of the small farmers of the Santa Clara Valley, heGolden Gate , wasn't able to find a financer for his
sensed that three could be a possibility of reciprocalproject, had the inspiration to go to Giannini. And the
interest for a bank that Is available to give incentives towinning card to convince Amadeo wasn't the possible
small land owners.profit, but the conviction that the bridge could have
He was able to convince the other members of thehelped the citizens of San Francisco to get out of the
Bank of Italy to work towards this goal but he alsodepressing economic situation that hung over the city.
wanted strong ties between the bank and peopleGiannini financed his project with six million dollars and
from the area. Assuming that among all of the peopleasserted that Bank of America had no interest in the
of the new banks that there would be a great numberproject.
of artisans, tradesmen and local farmers.In the first half of the thirties Giannini got ready to fight
The employees Also had to be local citizens and theythe "Mc. Federal Act" a law that prohibited you from
had to speak many languages.operating in more than one state.
In 1909 the Bank of Italy opened his first branch in SanIn 1934 the Bank of America had 423 branches in 255
José, his city of birth. In 1910 he bought twoCalifornia cities.
banks at San Francisco, in 1912 he bought another in atOn the 14th of January his son Lawrence Mario
San Mateo. By the end of 1912 the deposits wereGiannini who Amadeo educated with his example, took
much higer than $11.000.000 dollars and in 1913 Gianninithe place of his father as the president of Bank of
opened another big branch in Los Angeles.America, and Amadeo to stay close by accepted the
From 1916 until 1918 he opened many branches in theposition of being honorary president.
agricultural valleys of California, therefore extendingGiannini made unselfishness to be his primary
credit to small farmers and the new emigrants.profession. Besides giving credit to poverty stricken
A lot of bankers, including the most influential ones ofpeople, and to have given hope to who has lost it,
the USA, where seriously worried because of the newAmadeo offered a large part of his earnings to social
tendency that Giannini had started and started adeeds, but without sounding the trumpets on
campaign to degrade him with the aim of isolating him.philanthropy and patronage
Giannini understood the risk and decided to takeIn 1930 he created the GIANNINI FOUNDATION of
control of the situation and he nominated himselfagricultural economics, which he left to the University
president and put a lot of initiative into effect that thatof California. The foundation had one goal: to favour
made him and the bank more solid.the research aimed at developing rural resources and
In 1919 the Bank of Italy bought a bank in New York,to increase the economical activities of California's
and he named it Bancitaly Cooperation.farmers. In 1945 he also created the GIANNINI FAMILY
This institution was bought nine months after he boughtFOUNDATION, with the goal to promote the medical
"Banca dell'Italia Meridionale" , that later on was namedresearch.
"Bank of America and Italy".During the 2nd World War California became the most
In July of 1919 the Bank of Italy subscribed to theimportant state for war production. The Bank of
Federal Riserve Sistem and the 1st of March 1927 itAmerica financed the production of airplanes, ships,
became nationalized.and heavy and lightweight weapons, It managed the
In 1920 Giannini sensed the possibility of the developingpayment of the soldiers and civil employees.
the film industry, that up until that time was activeAmadeso Giannino gave his son Mario the
mainly in New York. He sent his brother Attilio Gianniniresponsibility to deal with Italians that were confined in
who left the medical profession, to dedicate himself notprison camps, and to exert himself to try to avoid the
only in the Bancitaly cooperation but also in theimprisonment of other Italian Americans
emerging world of cinema.Right after the war, Giannini, who always felt
But rather than focusing on the financial aspects,profoundly Italian, to the point that, even at an old age
Amadeo paid attention to socio cultural importancesspoke often with the a dialect from Liguria that he
that the film industry's were proposing regarding thelearned from his mother, wanted the bank to help in
American conscience and behavior. Since the Newefforts of reconstruction in Italy in first person.
York bankers that financed the films asked loan sharkHe agreed with Arthur Schlesinger, the man
interest rates at around 20%, he decided to offerresponsible for the Marshall plan, to speed up the
more reasonable rates-around 6%- for deservingshipment of aid, that his bank would send the amount
authors that were not only for having fun, but also tonecessary without any interest, for all the shipments
propose quality social modelsheaded for Italy.
So, when Attilio came back from New York to tell hisIn October 1945, when Amadeo was seventy five
brother that he had met young talented comic artist,years old, he left the Bank of America for good. He
who was already successful in comedies, but thatleft all the drawers in his desk open, which he never
couldn't find a financer for his project, Amadeoclosed anyway saying "I have nothing to hide", just like
decided to give $50.000 to First National Distributors to"the bank has nothing to hide."
make Charlie Chaplin'sfilm "Il monello".At the same time he announced that the Bank of
The costs of the film could have cost much less, butAmerica had become the biggest bank in the world!.
Amadeo who wanted to get to know him personally,At the age of eighty Amadeo Peter Giannini breathed
didn't want him them to have to worry about thecalmly, and was comforted by the affection of his
finances.loved ones. When he died an accurate inventory was
Within six weeks he made his money back on the filmcarried out of all of his assets, that came to exactly
and following that his bank made enormous profits.489,278 dollars.