THINKING BIG, LAUNCHING MY VERY OWN BANK

By now I started to think big. I would like to open my own bank. But how to open a bank? How to start? How to get clients. How to manage it? I did follow my mother to Post Office a few times to see her deposit and withdrawal processes. I looked at the transactions in her passbook. Those days Post Office handled savings passbook. I got the idea already.

First step, I must have a record book, a master record. All clients records must be there. So I bought a ledger type book for recording all my clients transaction there. Then I bought a few 555 books. These would be the savings passbook. I am ready now. But where to get clients??

I love saving money. It is satisfying to see how your savings grow. While in school I admired my friends who can save out of their daily allowance. My brothers and sisters also like to save. Yesss... they will be my clients. I myself had a saving tube made of bamboo and another one of a big Brylcreem bottle (I will blog later on the story of this Brylcreem bottle piggy bank).

My first two clients were my younger brother and sister. I talked them to open an account with me. I promised them that all transactions would be recorded in the ledger-look book and they will have their very own passbook, signed by me in every transaction similar with my mother passbook except without the post office stamp. I guaranteed that their saving would be in the safe hand. I showed them my very own 2 piggy banks that I had (the bamboo tube and the Brylcreem bottle). After some persuasions, both of them agreed to open accounts with me. I have succeeded and I am confident that I will grow big.

After a few weeks I managed to have deposits of more than RM10 from both of my clients. Then tragedy struck. I lost my piggy banks. I lost my money and my clients' money. Somebody must have stolen them. Whatever it was, I will have to take responsibility. I broke the news to my brother and my sister. They immediately ran to my father and told him that I stole their money. They had the 555 savings books with my signature on every transaction. My father went mad. I know he just showed that he was mad, but deep in his heart he must be laughing at the whole thing. Probably he was proud that his son had opened and ran a bank. He paid both my brother and my sister. Then he cut my daily allowance to repay him back. I know he didn't have to do that, but he still cut my allowance just to teach me a lesson.

There goes my bank................. I was 12 back then.

Present day.......

The former BBMB lost money, bankrupt and got bailed in the same way, by PETRONAS. Their money were stolen by politically linked businessmen. So does a few other banks.