Creative Way to Make and Recieve Payment – Cheese
I came across this small article today in Canada’s National Post newspaper and thought it would be fun to post. I spend much of the time on this blog sharing all the great information I read everyday about our favorite topic—new media. So to change it up, I thought I would do something different.
As they say, a blog is for anything that you feel you want to write about. In our new economy we all need to be creative. Finding ways to barter for services in order to keep your business going is very vital for some. In this article, an Italian Bank accepts parmesan cheese: Reggiano (ahhh only the best) as collateral. How great!
Now that is creativity! Enjoy.
Best Nicole
Italian bank accepts cheese as collateral
The vaults of Credito Emiliano SpA hold the pungent gold prized by gourmands around the world — 17,000 tons of parmesan cheese.
The regional bank accepts parmesan as collateral for loans, helping it to keep financing cheesemakers in northern Italy amid the worst recession since World War II. Emilia Romagna-based Credito Emiliano’s two climate-controlled warehouses hold about 440,000 wheels worth 132-million euros (US$187-million).
Giuseppe Montanari, 65, a cheese producer and dealer who uses the loans to buy milk, told Bloomberg News:
This mechanism is our life . It’s a great way to finance our expenses at convenient rates, and the bank doesn’t risk much because they can always sell the cheese.
So precious is the cheese that each 80-pound wheel, worth about 300 euros, is branded with a serial number so it can be traced if it is stolen. Thieves tunneled into one warehouse in February and made off with 570 pieces before they were apprehended by police. William Bizzarri, 58, who manages the cheese vaults, said:
Thank heavens we caught the robbers before they grated it.
