It has no automatic tellers or drive-up windows, doesn’t issue credit cards, and tends only a few thousand checking and savings accounts. Its only location is a glass, steamboat-shaped headquarters near the Missouri River, where the business moved from its original 1919 home in a former auto assembly plant.
The Bank of North Dakota - the only state-owned bank in the United States - might seem to be a relic. It was the brainchild of a failed flax farmer and one-time Socialist Party organiser during World War I.
But now officials in other states are wondering if it is helping North Dakota sail through the national recession.
Gubernatorial candidates in Florida and Oregon and a Washington legislator are advocating the creation of state-owned banks in those states. A report prepared for a Vermont House committee last month said the idea had “considerable merit”.

The Bank of North Dakota (BND) is a state-owned and -run financial institution based in Bismarck, North Dakota. Under state law the bank is the State of North Dakota doing business as the Bank of North Dakota.
All state and local government agencies are required to place their funds in the bank. Other entities may also open accounts at the Bank; however, BND offers fewer retail services than other institutions, and has only one office, limiting its competitiveness in consumer banking.
Instead, BND has taken a role more akin to a central bank, and has many functions, such as check clearing, that might be expected from a branch office of the Federal Reserve. The Bank does have an account with the Federal Reserve Bank, but deposits are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, instead being guaranteed by the State of North Dakota itself.
BND also guarantees student loans (through its Student Loans of North Dakota division), business development loans, and state and municipal bonds.
The Bank of North Dakota is the only state-owned facility of its type in the United States other than the Puerto Rico Government Development Bank.

Bank of North Dakota History

During the early 1900's, North Dakota's economy was based on agriculture. Serious in-state problems prevented cohesive efforts in buying and selling crops and financing farm operations. Grain dealers outside the state suppressed grain prices; farm suppliers increased their prices; and interest rates on farm loans climbed.

By 1919, popular consensus wanted state ownership and control of marketing and credit agencies. Thus, the state legislature established Bank of North Dakota and the North Dakota Mill and Elevator Association.

Bank of North Dakota (BND) was charged with the mission of "promoting agriculture, commerce and industry" in North Dakota. It was never intended for BND to compete with or replace existing banks. Instead, Bank of North Dakota was created to partner with other financial institutions and assist them in meeting the needs of the citizens of North Dakota.

BND opened July 28, 1919, with $2 million of capital. Over the years, our fiscal responsibilities to the state have increased dramatically. Today, the Bank operates with more than $230 million in capital. The State of North Dakota began using bank profits in 1945 when money was first transferred into the General Fund. Since that time, capital transfers have become the norm to augment state budgets.

Commercial, farm and secondary market real estate programs were established to benefit state residents and the local financial institutions who serve them. BND’s federal funds program provides an alternative funding source for banks to access additional capital for consumer loans.

In 1967, Bank of North Dakota made the first federally insured student loan in the nation. The Bank continues to provide a variety of loans for students and their families wanting to pursue post-secondary education.

In partnership with more than 100 other North Dakota financial institutions, Bank of North Dakota continues to meet and expand its 90-plus year mission to promote the development of agriculture, commerce and industry in North Dakota.
The deposit base of BND is unique. Its primary deposit base is the State of North Dakota. All state funds and funds of state institutions are deposited with Bank of North Dakota, as required by law. Other deposits are accepted from any source, private citizens to the U.S. government
In contrast to most commercial banks, Bank of North Dakota (BND) is not a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). North Dakota Century Code 6-09-10 provides that all deposits in Bank of North Dakota are guaranteed by the state.
The state Industrial Commission oversees Bank of North Dakota, as mandated by the 1919 state legislature. Members of the Industrial Commission are the Governor, who acts as chairman, the Attorney General and the Commissioner of Agriculture of the State of North Dakota.
The Bank also has a seven-member Advisory Board appointed by the Governor. The members are knowledgeable in banking and finance. The Advisory Board reviews the Bank's operations and makes recommendations to the Industrial Commission relating to the Bank's management, services, policies and procedures.


Quotations
“There are people capable of and willing to do the work – people who have the skills and the knowledge to achieve these things. Our problems are not caused by a scarcity of people or ideas. There are even organizations who have the skills to hire the people and put them to work. This could all be done. What is missing? Everyone is waiting for money!”
Bernard Lietaer “The Future of Money”

Once we understand money, we will know that we have only credit and not money!
On January 24, 1939, Robert H. Hemphill, credit Manager of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta stated: "If all the bank loans were paid no one would have a bank deposit and there would not be a dollar of coin or currency in circulation. This is a staggering thought. We are completely dependent on the commercial banks. Someone has to borrow every dollar we have in circulation, cash or credit. If the banks create ample synthetic money we are prosperous: if not, we starve. We are absolutely without a permanent money system. When one gets a complete grasp of the picture the tragic absurdity of our hopeless position is almost incredible, but there it is. It (the banking problem) is the most important subject intelligent persons can investigate and reflect upon. It is so important that our present civilization may collapse unless it becomes widely understood and the defects remedied very soon."
When we understand money, we will know that bubbles and crashes, recessions and depressions are entirely engineered by the banking system through expanding and contracting the money supply.


"When the President signs this act, the invisible government by the money power -- proven to exist by the Monetary Trust Investigation v -- will be legalized. The new law will create inflation whenever the trusts want inflation. From now on, depressions will be scientifically created. "

Congressman Charles A. Lindbergh Sr. , 1913 regarding the powers of the Federal Reserve System