Remarkably, It’s a Wonderful Life is the only film that is both a holiday classic and a commentary of the banking industry. Over the last 14 years, I’ve described the mechanics of microfinance hundreds of times. And in these discussions, George Bailey’s name often comes up. Particularly one memorable scene. 

In his job as bank manager, George Bailey faces his first real challenge when his customers in the small town of Bedford Falls make a “run on the bank.” Crowding into the bank lobby at closing time on Friday, they’re all looking to withdraw their deposits, in fear the bank might go under. But Bailey Building and Loan doesn’t have the reserves to fund their withdrawals in-full.

“You’re thinking of the place all wrong, as if I have the money bank in a safe. The money’s not here,” George shares with his customers. “Your money’s in Joe’s house… and a hundred others. You’re lending them the money to build and then they’re going to pay it back to you the best they can.”

You can probably recall the scene. In a measured way, George calmly explains how banks work to this angsty group of customers. Banks receive deposits from some customers, Bailey describes, and then on-lends these funds for mortgages and loans to other customers, carefully managing their risk through an interdependent web of borrowers and depositors. But the economic commentary in the film extends far beyond just this scene. At its core, It’s a Wonderful Life examines banking at its very best and its very worst.

George Bailey did not intend to be a banker. He planned to travel the world and pursue a career of glamour and prestige far away from his hometown of Bedford Falls. But when his father dies, George forgoes these plans to protect the legacy of Bailey Building and Loan, a bank committed to serving the needs of even the most vulnerable Bedford Falls residents. Bailey saves the bank and leads it well, in spite of the bank run and an attempted hostile takeover by Henry Potter, a vulturous investor and slumlord, who wants to gobble up Bailey’s community bank and take advantage of its customers. 

Mr. Potter’s banking philosophy—that banks only thrive at the expense of their customers—is a philosophy excoriated throughout the Bible, most clearly in the law God gives to Moses. Shortly after outlining the Ten Commandments, God instructs Moses on how his people should conduct financial transactions with their most vulnerable community members. 

“If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him.” (Exodus 22:25)

Scripture condemns charging interest in an exploitative and extractive manner, particularly to the vulnerable, like the working-class residents living in Israel and in the fictional town of Bedford Falls. The Hebrew word used to describe usury is the same word used to describe the strike of a scorpion. But George Bailey’s philosophy is quite different. At his bank, he is honest and transparent with his customers and he takes risks in banking on the members of his community, enabling both the bank and its customers to thrive. Potter’s approach is just the opposite. Potter grows his wealth by holding down and victimizing his customers. 

In 1903, Maggie Walker founded St. Luke Penny Savings Bank in Richmond, Virginia. The daughter of an enslaved mother, Walker became the first black woman in our country to run a bank. And, her vision for St. Luke was not dissimilar from what’s depicted by Bailey Building and Loan. St. Luke served all customers, but was focused on those traditional banks were most prone to overlook.

“Walker knew impoverished borrowers could be honest and diligent,” writes Jason Zweig in a feature in the Wall Street Journal. 

Like Bailey, she focused her bank’s efforts on helping her neighbors buy their own homes, achieving among the highest rates of homeownership in the country within the Black community. Walker’s banking philosophy extended even into the design of her bank branches.

“In the bank’s elegant interior, holding a brass pen in their hands, even the poorest customers could feel respected.” 

St. Luke Penny Saving Bank and Bailey Building and Loan were cut from the same banking cloth. These examples inspire our work at HOPE International, challenging us to serve men and women beyond the paved road, in communities and neighborhoods banks still overlook. We serve in these places not out of pity, but out of our belief in the ingenuity and creativity we find there. We believe these communities are overlooked not because of a lack of local capacity, but because of a lack of opportunity.

In a turning point in It’s a Wonderful Life, Bailey finds himself once again in the office of Mr. Potter. Because Mr. Potter stole $8,000 from Bailey Building and Loan, Bailey finds himself unable to pay his bills and at Mr. Potter’s mercy. Potter offers him no grace, but instead issues an ultimatum: Jail or bankruptcy. Bailey chooses neither, leaving uncertain about how he’s going to come up with the $8,000 he needs to keep his bank afloat. 

“Go to the riffraff you love so much and ask them for help,” Potter scolds Bailey, kicking him out of his office. 

In the final scene of the movie, Bailey returns home to find the riffraff he loves so much—his neighbors, customers, family, and friends—have provided the very help he needs. Altogether, they chip in enough money for Bailey to fend off Potter and keep the bank open.

The jubilant Christmas party erupting in Bailey’s home encapsulates what real banking and this season are all about: The rich and the poor, the powerful and the weak, the privileged and the overlooked, all mutually interdependent as we feast and celebrate together.

Merry Christmas.