Good morning. On Tuesday I asked readers if they could name examples of non-finance companies that had diversified into finance successfully. One reader bravely defended the record of GE Capital, despite its bad end. Others stuck up for the automakers’ big captive finance operations. Several noted that Starbucks basically takes billions in deposits in the form of payments for gift cards. Others looked abroad, to the big payment businesses built by Alibaba and Safaricom. Most interesting: the Manhattan Company was founded in 1799 by Aaron Burr, ostensibly as a water utility with a sideline in banking. By 1808 it was out of the water business, in 1955 it merged with Chase National, and is now part of a little bank called JPMorgan Chase. Email me: