标题: Bank of North Dakota; the Only State-Owned Bank in US [打印本页] 作者: choi 时间: 11-17-2014 19:10 标题: Bank of North Dakota; the Only State-Owned Bank in US Chester Dawson, Shale Lifts Little Bank On The Prairie; A bank treads a fine line between the private and public sectors in a solidly Republican state. Wall Street Journal, Nov 15, 2014. http://online.wsj.com/articles/s ... uld-envy-1416180862
imarketreports.com/shale-lifts-little-bank-on-the-prairie.html
Quote:
"Meet Bank of North Dakota, the US’s lone state-owned bank, which has one branch, no automated teller machines and not a single investment banker. * * * [the bank] says retail banking accounts for just 2%-3% of its business
"The reason for its success? As the sole repository of the state of North Dakota’s revenue, the bank has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of [fracking]. In fact, the bank played a crucial part in kick-starting the oil frenzy in the state in 2008 amid the financial crisis.
"Much of that growth [in bank assets] has been fueled by surging deposits of mineral-rights royalty payments and taxes stemming from North Dakota’s leap from the country’s sixth-largest oil producer to its second largest over the past five years.
"Set up in 1919 under a socialist-oriented government that represented farmers * * * the bank treads a fine line between the private and public sectors in what today is a solidly Republican state. It traditionally extends credit, or invests directly, in areas other lenders shun, such as rural housing loans. The bank’s mission is promoting economic development, not competing with private banks. 'We’re a state agency and profit maximization isn’t what drives us,' President Eric Hardmeyer said. At the same time, he said 'it’s important to me that we show a respectable bottom line' to taxpayers, noting that the bank historically has returned profits to the state’s coffers.
"Return on equity, a measure of profitability, is 18.56%, about 70% higher than those at Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan.
"North Dakota officials hesitate to tout the bank as a model. 'We think it’s worked well for us, but only because we’re very careful about how we use it,' said North Dakota Gov Jack Dalrymple.
My comment: A lesson, or model, for China's state-owned enterprises?