Banks Without Locks
Posted on 19 January 2011 by LynThomas in Uncategorized
A bank with no locks has been opened in Mumbai, India, to serve the devotees of a deity named Lord Shani, god of the planet Saturn.
The bank is a branch of the United Commercial (UCO) Bank and has opened in a small village called Shani Shinganapur.
A senior bank official told the India Times: “We took note of the general belief and faith of the people. Ever since the most revered temple came into existence several years ago, the village has not witnessed a single crime. In fact, all houses in the entire village have no doors. We took the risk and started the lockless bank a week ago.”
Even the houses of the village have no doors, only door frames. The villagers believe that the god Shani punishes anyone who steals.
The local police were reported to be unhappy over this development, as it amounted to a breach of conditions. The Central government of India has made it mandatory for all banks to have high security.
However, this is not the first bank with ‘no locks’.
The manager, Chief Viraleo Boborenvanua, leaned across his desk and peered carefully at a curled pig tusk, before weighing it, in the tropical archipelago of Vanuatu, in the South Pacific.
The 14 branches of the Tari Bunia Bank, spread around the lush forests of Vanuatu’s remote Pentecost Island, deal in a very special sort of Livatu currency – otherewise known as pig tusks.
pig tusks currency
As Chief Viraleo left for a lunch of yams, cooked in a stone oven, he didn’t even bother to lock the vault, which held thousands of pig tusks, paid in by the bank’s customers.
“The spirits and snakes keep the money safe,” he laughed.
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