It's harder than many other large corporations because banking laws vary from state to state, and there are federal laws restricting banks operating universally across several states. Also, as a 'startup bank' you are initially reliant on your incumbent rivals for clearing and interbank transactions (unless you do literally leave cash in a vault at 0%). I agree technology has made it much easier recently though.

It's possible to start small community banks and there are programs for it. Difficult, but not impossible.

But about his bank. It seems like he wont make loans to local businesses and instead choose what he deems to be the least risky financial instruments. So the interest earned on deposits will be low.

And then as for safety, we all know that deposits in FDIC backed banks are good up to a certain limit. So he's not going to do much better for the customer on that end.

Plus, I don't know why he's complaining about bank bonuses. I believe he's mixing up investment banks with your usual commercial/community banks. As long as incentives are aligned to be towards loan quality rather than quantity, you will get good loans.