Parmesan. The cheese bank.
There is a bank in Italy that doesn't accept gold. It accepts cheese: 430,000 wheels of Parmesan in climate-controlled vaults worth 190 million euros. It may be the smartest bank in the world.
THE GIST ON PARMESAN: "Better Than Gold"
How does a cheese bank work?
Parmigiano Reggiano takes up to three years to mature, and the longer it ages the more valuable it gets. But that is years of spending before a single wheel is sold.
So in 1953 a local bank, Credito Emiliano, started accepting wheels of Parmesan as collateral for loans. The farmer gets the cash, and the cheese sits there ageing and appreciating. A win-win, and the cheese does the work.
Is it only cheese?
Before prohibition, American banks did the same with whiskey. Today there are funds with 250 million dollars deployed purely in barrel-backed loans. Anywhere a product needs time to become valuable, someone has worked out how to lend against it.
What does it tell us?
We have built the whole economy around speed. Same-day delivery, instant everything. But the most bankable products on earth are the ones that can't be rushed.
You can't shortcut a 36-month Parmesan or speed up an 18-year-old Scotch. Time is the product. In a world where we've automated everything else, time might be the last thing you can't manufacture.
Would you hold your savings in cheese?
Your take. One tap, then see how everyone else voted.
Quick answers
What does the Italian bank accept as collateral?
Wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano, 430,000 of them worth 190 million euros.
Since when?
Credito Emiliano started in 1953.
Has this happened with other products?
Yes, American banks did it with whiskey before prohibition, and funds today lend against barrels.
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