What Can We Learn From U.S.'s Greatest Banker?

A.P. GIANNINI was one of the greatest bankers in history, a superb business leader whose name today is largely unknown. With bankers being in ill repute since the crisis of 2008–09–the latest black eye, of course, comes from Wells Fargo–it is perhaps salutary and indeed inspiring to look at a banker who did so many things right. Born in northern California in 1870, this son of Italian immigrants (at age 7, he witnessed his father’s murder over a money dispute) went into the produce business as a broker and was so successful that he retired at 31. Soon after, Giannini took a seat on the board of a local bank and couldn’t understand why it–and every other bank–refused to serve the rapidly growing population of immigrants. Banking services, he was repeatedly told, were for only the well-to-do. He left the bank and started his own, the Bank of Italy, which years later morphed into the Bank of America. Giannini made it the largest bank in the U.S. His life offers many lessons for would-be entrepreneurs.