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Amadeo Peter Giannini (1870-1949), born in San Jose, California, was one of the founders of the Bank of America. Giannini's parents were Italian, from Liguria near Genoa, immigrants to the United States. He attended Heald College in San Francisco, California. Giannini opened the Bank of Italy in a former San Francisco saloon on 17 October 1904. Deposits on that first day totaled $8,780. An early difficulty to overcome was the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. However, the earthquake actually helped Giannini gain something of a loan monopoly. After the earthquake, he moved the vault's money to his home outside the fire zone in then-rural San Mateo, an 18-mile drive by horse and wagon. The raging fires severely heated the vaults of other big banks which had the money in them. Opening them immediately would ruin the money, so they had to be kept closed for weeks. Because of this, Giannini was one of the few who was able to provide loans at the time. Giannini was forced to run his bank from a plank across two barrels in the street for a time. Giannini made loans on a handshake to anyone who was interested in rebuilding. Years later, he would recount with pride that every single loan was repaid. Giannini is credited as the inventor of many modern banking practices. Most notably, Giannini was one of the first bankers to offer banking services to middle-class Americans, rather than simply the upper class. A liberal in a conservative field, Giannini and his bank helped nurture the motion picture and wine industries in California. He loaned Walt Disney the funds to produce "Snow White", the first full length animated motion picture. In the depths of the Depression, he bought the bonds that financed the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge. The U.S. Postal Service honored Giannini's contributions to American banking by issuing a postage stamp bearing his portrait in 1973. A ceremony to mark the occasion was held near his former home in San Mateo, CA. TIME Magazine named A. P. Giannini one of the "builders and titans" of the twentieth century. He was the only banker so named to this distinguished list of the 100 most important people of the century. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

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