The bank that keeps cheese in its vault

Since 1953, the Italian bank Credito Emiliano has offered Parmigiano Reggiano producers an unusual deal: it lends them money, taking their wheels of cheese as collateral.

Parmesan's problem is time. It needs years of ageing before it can be sold, and all that while the producer's capital sits locked up in the form of cheese. The bank solves this by taking the wheels on deposit and advancing the money.

And it doesn't store them just any old way. The wheels — around forty kilos each — rest in the bank's own climate-controlled warehouses, where specialised staff turn them, clean them and inspect them by tapping them with a little hammer, just as a cheesemaker would. If the producer repays the loan, they get their cheese back, now fully aged. If they default, the bank sells the wheels: this is collateral that doesn't depreciate, but actually gains value over the years.

At times, hundreds of thousands of wheels sit in its storerooms at once. It may well be the best-smelling bank vault in the world.