Interest rate derivatives are low-return, capital-intensive products, which are starting to resemble the lending business a decade ago, when banks treated it as a loss-leader.
However, given how tiny the market is for six-figure hand-crafted frocks, never mind ones that make you look like you have cranial gout, it's the industry's high-profile, high-price loss-leader.
Television programs are normally produced under the loss-leader model, with heavy investment in initial production paying off only years later when shows are syndicated in reruns.