Recent News
Over the last few years a small CDFI bank in Kansas, CBW Bank, has become a secret weapon for fintech companies. These tech innovators rely on both CBW’s technology and status as a state-chartered bank to build their own businesses. The bank’s tech roots started when Suresh Ramamurthi, an ex-Google engineer, and his wife Suchitra Padmanabhan, a former Wall Street banker, purchased CBW Bank. Frustrated with the bank’s cumbersome back office software, Ramamuthi decided to build the tech tools he needed himself. After several years, he had built a platform layered on top of the bank’s older... Read more
Guaranty Bank & Trust Company, based in Belzoni, Mississippi, has opened a new branch location in Grenada. The bank also announced it will add three Granada locals as relationship bankers on the Grenada staff. "Our commitment to Grenada is certainly affirmed with the conversion of a Loan Production Office to a full-service branch along with completing construction of a local office," said President and Chief Executive Officer Hue Townsend. "Our Grenada personnel are comprised of professionals who are long-time investors of the Grenada community. I am confident that our... Read more
City First Bank of D.C. has released its 2015 annual report, documenting a year of impact in underserved areas of the nation’s capital. In 2015, City First made $27 million in new loans and deployed $26 million in New Markets Tax Credit equity. The Atlas Performing Arts Center, now celebrating its 10th anniversary, was one organization that benefited from City First’s support. When Jane Lang set out to raise the $24 million it would take to repair the dilapidated theater, most traditional banks warned her against investing in such a distressed neighborhood. “City First... Read more
Michel Poignant thinks the industry is approaching mobile wallets the wrong way. The PayToo CEO believes companies should focus their efforts on adding services that consumers value rather than putting technology such as NFC at the center of mobile wallets. CDBA member City National Bank of New Jersey is now working with PayToo to expand its reach. As part of this strategic alliance, PayToo markets the bank's products and services nationally under the PayToo brand. Customers can perform all of their banking on the PayToo wallet, including depositing their paycheck, topping... Read more
Peoples Bank partnered with SBA in 1989 to help Mississippian’s start, build and grow businesses. Twenty-seven years later, 642 small businesses have been able to grow and develop because of this partnership. Peoples Bank continues to receive outstanding awards for their commitment and dedication to helping grow local small businesses. SBA executives presented the award recently at the Mississippi event held in Jackson. Janita Stewart, SBA District Director, commented, “Congratulations again…Peoples Bank really makes a difference in entrepreneurial development and... Read more
OneUnited Bank has announced a partnership with BMe Community, a national network of black male leaders dedicated to building prosperous communities. OneUnited will become BMe Community’s preferred bank with a $1 million initial deposit. Both organizations place a strong emphasis on the importance of strengthening the black community through initiatives that focus on economics, community development, entrepreneurship and technology. “It’s a matter of integrity,” said Trabian Shorters, CEO of BMe Community. “If a foundation, corporation or association says they want to help... Read more
Chicago’s Urban Partnership Bank has launched a campaign to raise at least $15 million in new equity. The bank's chairman, David Vitale, is meeting with CEOs of locally headquartered banks like Northern Trust, PrivateBancorp, Wintrust Financial and MB Financial to help the bank recapitalize. Urban Partnership is operating under an Aug. 5 consent order with state and federal bank regulators that requires it to raise capital and pursue a new business plan. Investing in Urban Partnership could appeal to local bankers because, as a CDFI, an investment in UPB will give their... Read more
Sunrise Banks sponsored the third annual TEDxMinneapolis in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The event fosters the sharing of ideas between Minneapolis’ most innovative thinkers and groups. This year, with the help of EventLab, Sunrise brought the concept of “speed volunteering” to TEDx and created an interactive booth where attendees could volunteer for Fraser, Minnesota’s largest and most experienced provider of autism services. Attendees at the booth spent 5-10 minutes making sensory toys for use with the children in Fraser’s programs. "The people who took part had fun, learned... Read more
Neighborhood Bancorp in San Diego, holding company of Neighborhood National Bank, has an agreement in place to raise $6 million from Chicago's Taylor Asset Management in Chicago. The deal will effectively double the bank's capital, raising the bank's Tier 1 capital ratio to more than 18% and its total risk-based capital to more than 38%. "This agreement represents an important step in recapitalizing and positioning the bank for future growth," said Dan Yates, the bank's president and chief executive. Taylor Asset Management has been involved in the turn arounds of several... Read more
Can a bank be beneficial to all and harmful to none?
Does your bank do only good and no harm? Do you know? Beneficial State Bank aims to bank in a way that is beneficial to all and harmful to none. It’s more than a platitude. They proactively measure themselves against goals such as how many affordable housing units they have financed, how many kilowatt hours of clean energy their loans have produced and how many millions of dollars they have loaned non-profits.
Kat Taylor and her husband set out to create a business that would do social good with a sustainable business model... Read more
Cachet Financial Solutions, Inc. and Central Bank of Kansas City have rolled out an end-to-end reloadable prepaid card program for banks, credit unions and alternative financial services providers. Powered by Central Bank of Kansas City's program managmenet and Cachet's award-winning Select Mobile Money technology, the new card program provides a more convenient way for financial institutions and marketing organizations to offer general purpose reloadable prepaid cards. It also makes card usage more engaging and convenient for customers. The companion mobile app can be... Read more
Black and Latino interns and professionals from across Chicago’s financial industry attended the third annual Summer Intern Career Conference at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago organized by the Financial Services Pipeline Initiative. The initiative was co-founded by Urban Partnership Bank to increase the representation of Latinos and African Americans at all levels of Chicago’s financial industry. African-Americans and Latinos make up 38% of the Chicago area population but are only employed in 22% of jobs in Chicago’s financial services industry. Only 5% of executives... Read more
Southern Bancorp’s 2015 annual report describes the institution's growing impact. In 2015, Southern provided 2,726 individuals and families with financing for affordable housing and homeownership. It also supported 4,419 jobs through commercial, small business and microloans – over 75% of which were made in low to moderate income census tracts. Roger Perry was one entrepreneur who thrived with help from Southern. Roger built his auto detail business one car and one client at a time. It was that tenacity that attracted the attention of Southern Bancorp to provide the... Read more
Beneficial State Bank has completed its merger with Pan American Bank and is celebrating with a Toyota Prius giveaway. The merger will increase the size of Beneficial State to approximately $650 million in assets, allowing it to better meet the needs of underserved communities in the Central Valley and Los Angeles with financial products and services. “We are embarking on an exciting moment in our journey,” said Dan Skaff, Beneficial State Co-CEO and president. "We are bringing together extraordinary talent and partnering with innovative companies that provide forward-... Read more
Teri Williams, President of OneUnited Bank discussed the financial system's structural racism in a recent interview. “If you look at what has happened in the banking industry or financial services industry over the past 10 years, the black community was faced with predatory lending, we currently have payday lenders that charge rates as high as 400% on a short term loan, they charge fees to cash checks of 1% or more, and the legal framework, the regulatory framework allows this to exist… Black people spend $1.2 trillion annually. That is more than some whole countries spend... Read more
In an interview, Virginia Community Capital Community Programs Manager Leah Fremouw spoke about the benefits of the bank's status as a Certified B Corps. "[The B Corps designation] allowed us to elevate our social mission to the same significance as our shareholder value. 50% of our Board help develop social and environmental standards for industry, we give preference to local and sustainable suppliers, and our staff are given opportunities to have paid time off for community service. In late June we held an event in Old Town Petersburg, at Trapezium Brewery (a renovation... Read more
Black-owned banks across the country, including Savannah, Georgia-based Carver State Bank, are seeing an increase in applicants after recent protests against police brutality. "We've seen a tremendous increase in the number of inquiries about the bank and the number of accounts that have been opened," said Carver State Bank President Robert James. "In fact, on Monday and Tuesday of last week we probably opened as many accounts as we would probably open in a full month in two days... Most citizens can't take to the streets and demonstrate but they've found that one of the... Read more
Kat Taylor, Co-CEO of Oakland, Calif.-based Beneficial State Bank, was interviewed for the cover story of Conscious Company Magazine: “[Capital] has been deployed [in harmful ways] because it got anonymized. As soon as the banking system got big enough and the deposits all went into this big black box, then the bankers on the other side felt entitled to lend it to anything that would maximize return... I believe we can take the banking system back and make it govern in the public interest... We wouldn’t want depositors saying, ‘Lend to this company,’ or, ‘Lend to that... Read more
Community development information service Aeris has released a set of metrics intended as a starting point for CDFIs and other community investment institutions to collect and reporting standardized impact data. The toolkit evolved based on principles discussed at a series of meetings organized by Aeris, Partners for the Common Good and other organizations in the field. It is intended to advance a set of standardized metrics that would allow CDFIs to better understand their impact performance relative to peer institutions. The metrics allow both investors and investees to measure the... Read more
Deposits are up dramatically at black-owned banks across the country as a result of the Black Money Matters Project. The project started when a group of recording artists including Killer Mike and Usher urged their social media followers to support black-owned businesses in the wake of high-profile shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castileon by opening accounts at black-owned banks and credit unions. Boston-based OneUnited has brought in $3 million in deposits. Carver Federal Savings Bank in New York City has collected about $2.4 million in new... Read more