News
Darrin Williams, CEO of Southern Bancorp, was recently interviewed on the Your Mark on the World Podcast, and the footage is featured on Forbes. Williams discussed his bank's mission and strategy, saying, "Often our competition is not another bank; [it is] a payday lender or pawn shop, or someone who provides alternative forms of capital or credit that really strip wealth. So we really do a lot of outreach. We don't wait for people to come to the bank. We take the bank to them."
American Banker takes a look at the challenges facing the nation's black-run banks, including Carver Federal Savings Bank in New York. Many of the top challenges facing Carver are facing other community banks, including rising compliance costs, pressure to scale bank on commercial real estate, and an uphill battle to keep pace with technology. "There have been many, many things that the team and I are proud of, and there's no place I would have wanted to have been for the past five years," Pugh said. "Certainly some things I wish would have had a different outcome, but the journey continues for us."
The First, A National Banking Association, has agreed to buy Sunshine Financial in Tallahassee, FL. The First will pay $32.1 million in cash and stock for the $194 million-asset parent of Sunshine Community Bank. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2018. The acquisition will provide the First with five branches in Tallahassee. "Sunshine is well-known in Tallahassee as a customer-focused organization that delivers exemplary service," said The First CEO Hoppy Cole. "Tallahassee is ... a natural extension of our strategic vision to build market share in the Florida panhandle."
Senatobia, a town 8,000 in the Mississippi Delta, is on the rise. This article highlights the beneficial presence of Sycamore Bank, whose main branch is located in Senatobia. "Even though we are a community bank, we offer a full suite of financial services that compete with anyone, even the megabanks," said CEO Jay Tindall. "And unlike the megabanks, all our decisions are made locally and by the people that greet you when you walk in the door."
The House of Representatives has passed a tax bill that would do away with the New Markets Tax Credit next year. Banks and other proponents have urged Congress to make the NMTC permanent, as it spurs economic development in low-income communities nationwide by awarding roughly $3.5 billion in annual tax credits to investors in commercial developments.
This article features Sunrise Banks' innovative approach to banking underserved customers. CEO David Reilling is interviewed about how Sunrise Banks was founded, where it is headed, and how he built the brand from the inside out. "The key is to meet customers where they are at, whether it's on Facebook or at the local coffee shop," he said. "In the end, it's all about developing a trusted relationship."
On November 6, 2017 the US House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee began the markup of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. If passed, this legislation as currently drafted would effectively eliminate the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) Program, which has been widely recognized as one of the most effective Federal programs to create jobs and promote small business in distressed rural and urban communities. The NMTC Program works to break the cycle of disinvestment in low-income communities by attracting the private investment necessary to reinvigorate struggling local economies. For every $1 of federal funding, the Program generates $8 of private investment.
Philadelphia's only black-owned bank, United Bank of Philadelphia, is celebrating 25 years of serving its community. Evelyn Smalls, President and CEO, said, "Our fundamental goal is to see businesses grow and succeed. A lot of businesses do start in this region, but I think there is still a fair number of them that don't survive over three to five years. So we are really focused on the sustainability of these businesses: that they can continue to grow and be strong supporters in the economy."
Nine organizations in Minden, LA have teamed up on a project known as The Collaboration, which will seek to help entrepreneurs start and grow their small businesses. It will also foster development of existing companies. The Louisiana Economic Development office has changed its small business lending criteria to enable more widespread eligibility for state loans. Through The Collaboration, banks will be more inclined to lend to startup businesses.
The Huffington Post examines the Beneficial State Bank and Beneficial State Foundation as an alternative banking model with a large societal benefit. CEO Kat Taylor said in an interview, "You have to have a model that cares as much about environmental and social capital as it does about financial capital. Only within a community of practice like this can we create the muscle memory to do that, and to make the combined effort to monitor outcomes that will tell us whether we are doing that or not."