The California Department of Financial Protection & Innovation recently issued a warning about "individual or individuals on YouTube claiming that individuals can form their own “private banks” and become “individual bankers” to obtain various benefits including asset protection by obtaining a registration number from the DFPI".   The obvious hitch in this scheme is that the DFPI does not issue registration numbers to individuals to form their own private bank.   In fact, it has been over a century since California has allowed individuals to organize their own private banks.

This does not mean that "private banking" does not exist.  Some commercial banks do offer "private banking" services.  These services involve personalized attention and services not offered to hoi polloi.  To merit these services, a customer usually must have a very high net worth.  These do not involve individual registrations as a private bank.