The Italian Tribune - The Premier Italian American Weekly Newspaper Since 1931

AMADEO PIETRO GIANNINI

From son of Genoese immigrants to produce seller to banking revolutionary, Amadeo Pietro Giannini stayed one step ahead of the competition with an unbeatable mix of innovative ideas, keen business savvy, and uncompromising integrity.

Giannini was born in 1870 in San Jose, California. His parents had come to America from the mountain village of Favale di Malvaro in the Liguria region, about 35 miles from Genoa. His father's premature death - the result of a fight over a dollar when Giannini was seven - had a profound effect on the young man's life because his mother married Lorenzo Scatena, a teamster who went into the produce business.

Following in his stepfather's footsteps, Giannini left school at 14 to assist him. By 19, he was a partner in a thriving business that succeeded, in no small part, thanks to his growing reputation for fair and honest business dealings. A dozen years later, he sold his half-interest in the business to his employees and made plans for a very early retirement.

His business acumen was not to remain dormant for very long. Recognizing his uncommon intelligence, the board of directors of the Columbus Savings & Loan Society, a small bank in North Beach (the Italian section of San Francisco). Giannini, as the son of hard-working immigrants, understood the financial plight of the working class. However, the other members of the board of directors did not share his faith concerning the credit-worthiness of the lower classes.

At the time, banks were almost exclusively used to serve businessmen and the wealthy. Of course, money being what it is, if the bankers had realized the immense profit that could be made by lending to the working class, they would have quickly heeded Giannini's suggestions. Giannini fought with them, trying to persuade them to see the wisdom of his plan.

As it turned out, his ideas were soundly rejected. Determined to succeed, he decided to start his own bank. In 1904, he raised $150,000 from his stepfather and ten friends and opened the Bank of Italy in a converted saloon directly across from the Columbus S&L. He even kept the bartender on as an assistant teller.

He operated under the principle that their was considerable money to be made from the working class. By going door to door and explaining the services a bank offers to people who had no banking experience, Giannini bucked the banking tradition that frowned upon soliciting banking business.

By opening the world of banking to a whole new class of people, Giannini earned their trust and their loyalty. His efforts were rewarded as his practice of lending to the working class soon became quite profitable. Then, like most everyone else in the San Francisco area on April 18, 1906, Giannini had his life turned upside down.

Thrown from his bed by the force of the Great Quake, he realized that swift action alone would save all for which he had worked. Quickly, he dressed and hitched a team of horses to a borrowed wagon. He headed into town to his Bank of Italy, where he sifted through the rubble to find more than $2 million in gold, coins, and securities. He loaded these remnants of the bank's resources onto his cart, covered everything with a layer of vegetables, and headed home.

In the days following the disaster, people were at a loss as to how to rebuild the city. San Francisco's bankers wanted to remain shut until the damage could be sorted out. As usual, Giannini disagreed with his shortsighted colleagues. With a plank stretched over two barrels serving as his desk, he set up shop on the docks near San Francisco's North Beach.

His loans to small businesses and individuals not only helped these people rebuild their shattered lives but also spurred the city's redevelopment. As time passed and his reputation grew, Giannini was often called upon to lend money to failing, obscure, and out-of-favor businesses. With his keen business sense, he managed to save many ailing companies while turning a tidy profit. At different times he bankrolled Hollywood actors who wanted to start United Artists, helped start the California wine industry, and even bailed out Walt Disney when he ran $2 million over budget while making Snow White.

Giannini's Bank of Italy and other banking properties were consolidated into the Bank of America, which he purchased with the intent of creating a national bank. After moving to Europe during another short retirement period (at the age of 50), he returned to the United States to regain control of his banking empire from his successors whom he felt had betrayed him and his ideals. Once again, he relied upon the working class to overcome the machinations of unethical colleagues.

At the time of his death in 1949, his Bank of America - which did eventually become the country's first nationwide bank - was the largest bank in the United States. The vast innovations brought to the world of banking by Amadeo Pietro Giannini are largely taken for granted. He pioneered home mortgages, auto loans, and other forms of installment credit. The ease and convenience with which customers can conduct banking business throughout their state or the nation is due to the vision of Giannini. Even the availability of banks to the lower classes is a result of his heritage.

He knew that the working people deserved a chance to better themselves and they always rewarded his faith. In these fast-paced times, when money and finances so dominate the collective mind of our society, it is fitting that we remember the man responsible for revolutionizing the business of banking in the twentieth century. As we head to our bank's local branch or ATM, we should all nod a heaven-sent message of thanks to the Father of Modern Banking, Amadeo Pietro Giannini.

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