I think that Mike's objectives are laudable and when thinking of how to re-invent an industry one sometimes has to think "blue sky" and the back into what can be achieved in reality. So I prefer not to focus on the problems. One could always raise the finance to buy an existing bank, which is what many private equity firms are doing. And remember, Andy Beal - the poker banker who I have written about - ran his bank using principles so counter-intuitive to conventional wisdom that the regulators were harassing him to find out why. And it has done pretty well for Beal Bank. Keep up the good work Mike. John (aka The Masked Financier)