Dave Fishwick ran a minibus business in the northern England town of Burnley, when he decided to take on the UK banking establishment.
When the global financial crisis hit in 2007, he noticed the businesses he sold his vans to were struggling, and unable to secure loans from the big banks.
So, he stepped in.
Over the next few years Fishwick lent over £1,000,000 of his own money to a variety of businesses in his local community, from the florist to the local busker, and donated the profits to charity along the way.
Dave Fishwick attends the premier of the film Bank Of Dave Photo: Supplied
In 2011 he decided to make it official, applying for a banking license.
This, despite the fact the regulator then responsible for granting licenses had approved just one in the last 150 years.
After making a number of micro-loans to Burnley businesses, Fishwick realised he could expand the operation, he told Nine to Noon.
“I lent them the money, they paid me back. And I thought this banking malarkey is not that difficult.
“So, I thought, well, maybe I can help other people with other businesses. And that's what gives me the idea. I wanted to build a community bank, run by the community to benefit the community rather than the bonus culture.”
Fishwick is Burnley born and bred, growing up in a poor working-class family.
“My father always had two jobs. He was a farm labourer in the morning and in the afternoon he was a tackler, that's somebody that fixes looms in a mill.
“And my mum was a weaver in the same mill. We grew up in a house that only had an outside toilet, we was incredibly poor, the house that we grew up in, the end, had to be knocked down it was so bad.
“I left school absolutely useless. I had no qualifications whatsoever, there were no chances to go into a college or a university. So, I was straight onto a building site because we needed the money. And I was a builder's labourer, and I went from builders’ labourer to building the first new high street bank for 150 years in Britain. And then Hollywood turned up, made a movie about it.
“And now they've just turned up again to make a sequel. So, I have a bonkers life, I really have a bonkers life.”
He wanted establish an official bank so he could start taking deposits.
“I always think it is my grandmother's money in the back of my mind. So, whoever gives me the money, I think it’s Granny's money and I need to look after that.
“I wanted to give hardworking people, people who had a little bit of spare money, pensioners who'd worked hard all their life, I wanted to give them the best rate of interest on the high street, and then wanted to lend that out to people and businesses who couldn't borrow from the high street banks.”
The profits would then be distributed among local charities, he says.
“Everybody said it was impossible. Everybody said, I'll go to prison. Everybody said, you just can't deal in that world. You haven't got the qualifications. You've not been to the correct school. You've not been to university. And everywhere I went, it were just no, no, no.
“But as an entrepreneur, you've got to turn them nos into yesses.”
The bank has now lent over 34 million pounds to thousands of people and businesses, he says. And the profits are feeding hungry children.
“Every morning we're feeding children who come to school hungry, we do a lot of breakfast clubs, we do a lot of food banks.
“And we look to make a difference where we can actually see that happening. And in a world here in the UK, that just uncapped bankers’ bonuses, and I'm sure that's happening around the world again.
“In one hand, you've got bankers’ bonuses being uncapped, and in another hand, you've got children coming to school hungry, the world's gone mad.”
The bank of Dave’s actual name is Burnley Savings and Loans and it has been operating for 13 years.
“We've never lost a penny of the public's money in 13 years. And we've never done a single thing wrong to the public.
“But the big banks disliked me with a passion, because they can see that the brand is a threat to them. Because all they want to do is take the public's money here and in New Zealand, they take the public's money they then invest it abroad through the night in stocks and shares and credit default swaps and all sorts - what I call financial weapons of mass destruction.
“And if they make a fortune, they end up earning a fortune for themselves in wages and bonuses.
“And if they lose money what happens then is the taxpayer in New Zealand or here in the UK bails them out so they cannot lose.
“People that rob banks go to prison, but banks who rob people get paid bonuses and that has to stop.”
His story is told in Bank of Dave, currently screening on Neon and Prime Video. Netflix has announced a sequel to Bank of Dave.
