By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Business Writer
Wed Mar 19, 2008 4:33 PM ET
Recognizing not all banking customers want a safe deposit box, Wells
Fargo & Co. plans to sell online vaults as a secure and convenient
alternative for storing vital records.
When the service rolls out this summer, Wells Fargo believes it will
be the first major U.S. bank to offer an Internet alternative to the
safe deposit boxes that have been an industry staple for decades.
Because it can't store jewelry, cash and many other precious assets,
Wells Fargo's online version isn't likely to replace the traditional
safe deposit box. It's more likely to replace shoe boxes and home
filing cabinets, said Jim Smith, who oversees the bank's Internet
products.
Whenever I lose my watch, I take my sweet time to get a new
one. I savor the freedom from my compulsion to carve my days into
minute-size fragments. But my liberty has its limits. Even if I get rid
of the clock strapped to my wrist, I cannot escape the one in my head.
The human brain keeps time, from the flicker of milliseconds to the
languorous unfurling of hours and days and years. It’s the product of
hundreds of millions of years of evolution.
