InTouch Magazine Articles Archive

Issue 18, May 2008

Can we live without banks?

By Paul Clayfield.

I remember when I lived in Saudi Arabia a friend of mine worked for one of the Saudi banks, and when he and some of his colleagues were visiting one of their local branches out in the sticks, or should I say the desert, a fairly elderly gentleman was depositing his life savings accompanied by his three sons who had taken years to convince him that this was the safest thing to do with his cash.

The elderly gentleman quizzed the bank teller for some time about how they intended to keep his money safe, and when he was satisfied that the teller was indeed going to make sure that his money would be securely and well looked after he handed over his plentiful but rather forlorn and tatty looking cash. The bank teller dutifully placed the cash to one side and issued the gentleman with a receipt.

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