Giannini, A(madeo) P(eter)

(born May 6, 1870, San Jose, Calif., U.S.—died June 3, 1949, San Mateo, Calif.) U.S. banker and innovator in personal banking products. The son of Italian immigrants, he left school at age 13 to work in the family wholesale produce business, becoming a partner in 1889. In 1904 he and five partners founded the Bank of Italy in San Francisco. Their bank followed an unorthodox program of making loans to small farmers and businessmen and actively soliciting customers. In 1909 he began buying banks elsewhere in California, eventually creating the first statewide branch-banking system in the U.S. He established the Transamerica Corporation in 1928. After acquiring a second network of branch banks, he merged the two in 1930 under the name Bank of America National Trust and Savings Association. By the time of his death, Bank of America had more than 500 branch banks, with more than $6 billion in deposits.

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