News
Industrial Bank of Washington, D.C., typically opens 300 new accounts in six months. Thanks to the social media campaign #BankBlack, the bank opened 3,000 new accounts for a total of $6 million in just two months.
Emboldened by supportive comments from presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, community development banks including BankPlus, Neighborhood National Bank & Southern Bancorp are asking regulators for more leniency in areas such as disclosure fees and Bank Secrecy Act enforcement. The Community Development Bankers Association sent a letter in late June to Federal Reserve Board Chair Janet Yellen and other high-ranking Fed officials highlighting the trade group's concerns with elements of the Dodd-Frank Act, the Bank Secrecy Act and Basel III.
Mississippi has more CDFIs per capita than any other state. Its financial ecosystem is a unique place, where bankers and residents are coming to see one another as allies despite a difficult history. CDFI's are leading the way. "If we don't help our community, the community’s going to die" says Huey Townsend, President and CEO of Guaranty Bank & Trust. Powered by nearly $2.5 million in awards from the CDFI Fund, his institution has emerged as a leader in providing financial services to the poor, along with a handful of others including Bank of Anguilla in the region. Guaranty Bank & Trust was among the top providers of home loans in the 13 Delta counties where poverty is a persistent problem. Local CDFIs together made fully a third of housing loans here, while the large national banks that dominate home lending in most areas made only a handful.
First Security Bank & Trust is a recipient of the 2016 Innovation in Financial Education Award presented by NASDAQ and EverFi. The award recognizes First Security’s efforts to improve the financial capability of Americans through unique digital learning initiatives. First Security has partnered with EverFi to bring Common Cent$ to local students at no cost to schools or taxpayers, and has reached over 1,100 students since 2011.
Neighborhood Bancorp, the holding company for Neighborhood National Bank, announced today a definitive agreement that will result in doubling the bank's capital. The investment of $6 million is led by Stephen Taylor, Chairman of Chicago-based Taylor Asset Management, who is a noted investor in California community banks. "This agreement represents an important step in recapitalizing and positioning the bank for future growth," said Dan Yates, Neighborhood Bank's President and CEO.
American Banker has released their 2016 list of best banks to work for. CDBA Members Guaranty Bank and Trust, FNBC Bank, Community Bank and Bankplus all made the list.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta are holding a one-day forum on CDFI banking in the Southeast region, in partnership with CDBA, the National Bankers Association and the National Community Investment Fund. Topics will include economic and demographic trends affecting the Southeast, the financial performance of CDFI banks and strategic partnership opportunities. Distinguished speakers will include Atlanta Fed EVP, Bank Supervision and Regulation Michael Johnson, CDFI Fund Director Annie Donovan and FDIC Senior Deputy Director Sylvia Plunkett. The event will be free. Registration information will be circulated in early July.
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 architecture that unglues customer bank accounts from segmented pay pipes. That makes activity within the account more transparent and enables CBW to gather real-time information on transactions.
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 customers will be well-served by their experience."
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 came in at an early point, but at a prudent point, where it looked like things were going to come together to create a vibrant community. They were the critical element at a critical moment,” Lang says. Today, that neighborhood is among the city’s cultural hotspots.