The bank really not only gives loans on the security of cheese, but also keeps this cheese. Yes, ordinary cheese. Oh, not quite ordinary, of course. All in order, in general.
This is the Bank "Credito Emiliano", also known as "Credem". They say that hundreds of thousands of heads of famous Parmesan cheese (Parmigiano-Reggiano) usually are in special repositories of the credit organization. If we assume that the weight of one cheese head is 10-15 kilograms (this is, by the way, at least), but stored somewhere 200-300 thousand heads, it turns out that the bank keeps at least 3 million kilograms of cheese! They say that special robots clean cheese from dust and regularly turn the cheese heads, checking if they did not deteriorate.
Cheese storage are needed, because Bank Credem gives loans under his deposit. So the bank supports local cheesers. Everyone knows that Parmesan is stored for a very long time, and the longer, the cheese is considered better, as it is west. Practically like cognac ?
The borrower turns to the bank for a loan to develop its business, and the credit leaves the cheese in pledge. Credem gives loans to 80% of the cost of cheese at a small interest rate. So the borrower receives money in debt and still takes place to store his cheese. Double benefit. Interestingly, you can just donate cheese for storage, how much is money in the cell? ?♀️
Bank "Credito Emiliano", naturally, is also engaged in standard banking operations, but the loans for cheese began to be given since 1953. The Government of Italy, by the way, allowed the bank to produce debt securities to this parmesan. Well, not for parmesan, of course, and under loans issued with the pledge of cheese.
If the owner of the cheese can not give a loan, cheese goes to the ownership of the bank, which can sell it. And the demand for it is always. Parmesan in Italy is called the "king of cheeses", the cost of 1 kg of two-year cheese at least 16 euros. Those. The small head of the cheese will cost no less than 200 euros. They say that the entire parmesan in the repository is estimated at least 200 million euros.
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