Good morning. On Tuesday I asked readers if they could name examples of non-finance companies that had diversified into finance successfully. One reader bravely defended the record of GE Capital, despite its bad end. Others stuck up for the automakers’ big captive finance operations. Several noted that Starbucks basically takes billions in deposits in the form of payments for gift cards. Others looked abroad, to the big payment businesses built by Alibaba and Safaricom. Most interesting: the Manhattan Company was founded in 1799 by Aaron Burr, ostensibly as a water utility with a sideline in banking. By 1808 it was out of the water business, in 1955 it merged with Chase National, and is now part of a little bank called JPMorgan Chase. Email me: robert.armstrong@ft.com
早上好。周二我問讀者是否能夠舉出成功進軍金融領域的非金融公司的例子。一位讀者勇敢地為通用電氣金融公司(GE Capital)的業績辯護，盡管它最終走向了失敗。其他人為汽車制造商的大型自營金融業務辯護。有幾個人指出，星巴克(Starbucks)基本上通過禮品卡支付形式接受數十億的存款。其他人則將目光投向國外，關注阿里巴巴(Alibaba)和Safaricom打造的大型支付業務。最有趣的是，曼哈頓公司(Manhattan Company)由阿龍?伯爾(Aaron Burr)于1799年創立，最初是一家水務公司，兼營銀行業務。到1808年，它退出了水務業務，到1955年，它與摩根大通(JPMorgan Chase)銀行合并，現在是摩根大通的一部分。給我發郵件：robert.armstrong@ft.com