As a fairly progressive banker, I admit I’m always on the lookout for ways to expand our income.
But it never occurred to me before to start stocking our bank’s lobby with sweat pants, diapers, jewelry, fishing tackle, small appliances, garden furniture, auto supplies and groceries.
I was, however, recently inspired by the example of Wal-Mart. Its subsidiary, Broadstreet Financial Services, has applied for federal deposit insurance for a proposed nationwide Wal-Mart industrial bank to be headquartered in Utah, a state with 33 industrial banks boasting $115 billion in assets, making that state, to industrial banks, what Switzerland is to numbered accounts.
Yes, Wal-Mart wants to get into the banking business. So it seems only fair that my bank be allowed to compete with Wal-Mart in the grocery and dry goods business, right?
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