The Bank Of Dave - Fighting The Fat Cats

Many of you might of not have seen this British documentary about how a local businessman set up his own bank. It's excellent and although it covers a serious topic the filmmakers have done such a good job of it that it is great entertainment too.

After the 2008 crash a Lancaster businessman called Dave Fishwick, who had made millions out of selling mini-buses, decided to set up his own bank. He was disgusted by how the big banks had behaved in the lead up to the crash and also how they were not serving small communities because they weren't lending to small businesses. He decided to change all that by setting up his own small bank which he called, the Burnley Savings and loans Ltd, also known as the Bank of Dave.

The documentary shows how the British Financial Services Authority tried to close him down by saying that his simple banking method didn't give customers enough options and so they stopped him taking in savings. He had offered savers a whopping 5% on their deposits while offering loans out at competitive rates. The FSA said he should also offer a higher risk 7% option as also offer better protection for savers. He said his 5% option was good enough and he that his depositors savings were underwritten by insurance backed by his own savings. He sent off his details but the FSA seemed to deliberately drag things out and the Bank of Dave starting running out of cash and could have gone out of business.

Not a quitter, Dave Fishwick set up a mini-bus to tour the country and he also took it to the Conservative and Labour Party Conferences The Labour Party welcomed him in and he spoke to some senior Labour politicians, but the Conservative Party wouldn't let him in at all. But fortunately Steve Baker, a Positive Money campaigner, was really interested and took it on-board and thanks to him the Bank of Dave got a chance.

See how Dave Fishwick really likes people and often goes with his heart and gives out loans rather than his head, but his risks pay off and many local businesses take off and become successful. All the profits are given to charity.

Dave Fishwick also goes to Germany to see how small banks really help local communities. They lend to businesses and are not interested in speculation or betting on house price rises. It doesn't mention it in this documentary but Richard Werner says how the ECB is trying to close down Germany's small banks by piling on too many regulations. Now banks need whole departments to deal with the all the regulations and this is too costly for small banks which often only have a few employees.

Anyhow, enjoy this superb documentary if you haven't already seen it. It is extremely good and very entertaining, but I hope you can understand the gorgeous Lancaster accent. This documentary is beautifully made and uplifting and really cheered me up, but for some strange reason a couple of bits repeat themselves.