There are more banks then ever, because it's more profitable to be a bank than ever before. We have had almost an entire decade of 0% interests rates allowing banks to make incredible sums of money.
This is a market reaction to inflation, with very little to do with culture.
What would an alternate culture look like? Maybe one where companies use their profits to enrich their existing employees lives, rather than use it to expand at a rate that keeps employee quality of life at the bare minimum, and executives at a maximum. Also maybe a culture where money is reinvested in the community, so the people and place you live in is enriched, rather than use that money to spread out like a virus and stamp your chain store in the middle of communities around the world (so that you can make more chains).
Not substantively different from straight-up classic inflation via over-printing of currency, other than more accounting tricks to replace physical media with digital ledger entries tracking valueless debt.
This was not mentioned in the article. The need to make more money is a symptom not the cause.
"In every voluntary exchange we give up something we value less than what we receive... and so does the person we are trading with. Trade benefits both parties and this benefit is an increase in wealth for both."
http://www.fte.org/teacher-resources/lesson-plans/rslessons/...
But merely "more trade" as in a bigger amount of money changing hands does not let one conclude anything.