The Non Partisan League (NPL), born in 1915, united progressives, reformers, and radicals behind a platform that called for reforms to return control of North Dakota's government and economy to the people. Taking leadership of the state in 1919, the NPL formed the Bank of North Dakota (BND). Today it is the only state-owned bank in the U.S.

The bank was originally formed to create additional competition in the credit industry while providing a local source of capital for state investment and development. At the time the nearest financial centers were based in Minneapolis and St. Paul, and farmers were unable to get long-term financing at reasonable rates. BND was formed to "encourage and promote agriculture, commerce and industry in North Dakota." More

Credit unions are non-profit, tax exempt financial institutions owned by their depositors. About 70 million Americans are members of some 11,500 credit unions. Most are very small. Sixty percent have assets below $10 million and nearly one third have assetes below $2 million. On the other hand, the largest credit union---Navy Federal--has $10 billion in assets. More

Like community-owned sports teams, cooperatives and employee stock ownership plans are organizational models that tend to root businesses in their communities. Both ESOPs and coops are powerful tools that give decision making authority to those who will feel the impact of the decisions they make. When authority and responsibility are linked, decisions will likely be made in the best interests of the local community. More

Surcharges are the fees banks charge noncustomers for use of their ATMs. Surcharges are deducted directly from the consumer's account at the time of the transaction. (When you withdraw $20 and your receipt says $21.50, you have paid a $1.50 surcharge to the bank that owns the ATM.) Surcharging first began in 1996. Today, 93 percent of all banks surcharge noncustomers an average of $1.37 for each ATM transaction. Americans paid an estimated $2.2 billion in surcharges in 2001. More

The delinking of money from place and productive investment is not theinevitable result of technological advances or economic evolution.Money is a human invention and rules that control its dynamic are alsoa human invention. To slow down the speculative and destablizing flowof money, John Maynard Keynes proposed a small financial transaactionstax in 1930. More

In the early 1980s, high unemployment and the rapid exodus of capital from Quebec led the province to offer seed capital and tax incentives for a new kind of venture capital fund that provided equity to small and medium-sized businesses. The Solidarity Fund was created in 1983 and controlled by the Quebec Federation of Labor. In 1988, the federal government enacted its own tax credit for labor sponsored investment funds(LSIFs), using the Solidarity Fund as a model. Since then about 25 such funds have been created: two national and the rest provincial. More than 400,000 Canadians are shareholders in the funds, which generate $500-$700 million a year, equivalent on a per capita basis to $5-$7 billion in the United States. More

In the early 1970's, several cities adopted "one-percent-for-the-arts" policies. One percent of public capital spending had to be spent for art that enriched public spaces. Today more than 100 communities have adopted such provisions. Some- like Fort Lauderdale, Dallas, San Francisco and San Jose - have increased the requirements to 1.5 or 2%. More

In 1994 Congress allowed states to raise, lower, or abolish the bank deposit cap, which says that banks may only have 30% of all the deposits in the state (they are limited nationally to 10%). Banks may exceed the limit by attracting new customers, but they may not grow above the limit by acquisition. Most states chose to keep the 30% level. Two - Michigan and Utah - abolished the cap. New Mexico raised it to 40%, and several states lowered it. The lowest is in Iowa at 10%. Interestingly, Iowa and North Dakota, two states that lowered the cap, have one bank per 4,000 people, while Michigan and New Mexico have about one per 14,000.

Community Reinvestment encourages banks to lend to borrowers in all segments of the community.