Why Are Two Community Banks from Across the Country Merging?

Next City
Tuesday, September 15, 2020

When two banks merge, it's often bad news for at least one of those bank's communities. They could be merging because one of the two banks has failed, and regulators from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation have brought in one bank to take over for the other. Or it could be a big bank buying up a smaller bank that is having trouble surviving because of regulations that currently tip the scales in favor of big banks. But what happens when two otherwise financially healthy community banks from across the country merge, willingly, to form a national bank? The residents of Black communities and other historically disinvested communities in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. will have their chance to find out, with the announcement of a merger between Broadway Federal Savings Bank in Los Angeles and City First Bank of D.C.