Do You Need A Bank?

I don’t think I need a bank anymore.  I only need a virtual wallet with a little money deposited in it.  I didn’t need a bank for a mortgage.  I have a stock brokerage account.  I only use my bank to pay bills and to get cash out of an ATM when I need cash.  I try never to carry a lot of cash or use it.

Bill paying can be done plenty of other ways as we have seen with our portfolio company PipIT.

No one really uses a bank to get wealth advice anymore.  That’s done via the big brokers or in the RIA market.  I still bank at the same bank I have always banked at, but I don’t feel any particular loyalty to it.  The reason I banked there was they gave me my seat loan.

When we talk to startups about banking, we talk to them about strategy.  Use the banker that will give you connections to help your business, or will help you with loans and finance.  The problem is, very few really help.  I knew a startup that got better service from American Express than they did any banker.

If it’s investment banking, there are plenty of mid-tier and independent investment bankers that can help with deals.  The only people that really use the big guys are other big guys.

With the rise of crypto, you can see why bankers are shaking in their shoes.  The whole system is being unbundled bit by bit.  Banks have a lot of fixed costs they need to cover when all people really need is an online wallet.