The origins of the Bank of America trace back to the legendary banker Amadeo Pietro Giannini who opened the Bank of Italy in a former San Francisco Saloon on October 17, 1904. Total deposits at the end of that first day amounted to $8,780.
The first crisis to face the bank was the great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. A.P. Giannini reportedly managed to get the money out of the vault of his ravaged bank and transport it in a horsedrawn wagon. The money was hidden under produce and taken to his home in San Mateo.
The Bank of Italy was one of the few banks that had money and was able to provide loans in the immediate aftermath of the quake. Giannini himself loaned money on the basis of handshakes while standing behind a plank supported by two barrels. In later years he relished telling this story and the fact that every loan was repaid. He died in 1949.
The Bank of America has been hit by economic forces that are at least as powerful as those that rocked its headquarters in 1906. This time, however, it will not be as simple as finding a horsedrawn wagon to save the bank assets.
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