Community Development Banking News
CDFI Banking: Industry, Policy, and Beyond.
A growing number of cities across the United States are considering launching city-owned public banks. Among these are Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Philadelphia, Santa Fe, and Washington DC. The Public Banking Institute, a national advocacy nonprofit, has been supporting these and many other campaigns. At the state level, New Jersey's governor-elect Phil Murphy, who spent 23 years at Goldman Sachs, has expressed interest in establishing a state public bank.
Commerce Bancorp, of Greenwood, MS, is acquiring all of the issued and outstanding capital stock of Tallahatchie Holding Co. of Charleston. The share exchange deal was signed on November 29, 2017, and will see Tallahatchie County Bank's single branch and $58 million in assets merge to Bank of Commerce, with five pre-existing branches and $395 million in assets.
Full article:
In Mississippi, Commerce Bancorp Inc. of Greenwood is acquiring all of the issued and outstanding capital stock of Tallahatchie Holding Co. of Charleston.
The share exchange deal was signed Nov. 29, 2017, and will see Tallahatchie Holding merging into Commerce Bancorp, according to a regulatory filing recently obtained by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Deal terms were not disclosed, but SNL valuations for bank and thrift targets in the Southeast between Nov. 29, 2016, and Nov. 29, 2017, averaged 159.50% of book, 169.25% of tangible book and had a median of 23.77x last-12-months earnings, on an aggregate basis.
Following the merger of the holding companies, Tallahatchie County Bank will be merged into Commerce Bancorp unit Bank of Commerce.
As of Nov. 30, 2017, Bank of Commerce has $395 million in assets and five branches, while Tallahatchie County Bank has $58 million in assets and one branch. Commerce Bancorp will enter Tallahatchie County, Miss., with one branch, where it will be ranked second with a 42.02% share of approximately $122.31 million in total market deposits. The combined entity will have over $450 million in assets and a presence in five counties in North Mississippi.
Two Tallahatchie County Bank executives will take on new roles at the combined entity. President and CEO William McKellar will serve as executive vice president and Vice President Rob Rowland will serve as senior vice president and market president.
The merger is slated for completion on or before March 1, subject to the receipt of regulatory and shareholder approvals and other customary closing conditions.
Butler Snow LLP, with Jefferson Stancill as lead attorney, served as Commerce Bancorp's legal counsel in the transaction.
Old Second Bancorp. A $2.4 billion-asset bank in Aurora, IL, has agreed to buy Greater Chicago Financial, the parent of $350.4 million-asset ABC Bank. The deal, which is expected to close in the second quarter, values Greater Chicago at 119% of its tangible book value. "ABC Bank's four offices and more than a century of service in the Chicago market are a great complement to our existing footprint," said James Eccher, Old Second's President and CEO.
The First, A National Banking Association is serving as the title sponsor to the Economic Outlook 2018 Forum hosted by the University of Southern Mississippi. The forum will convene experts from banking, finance, and academia to explore a number of issues and research related to the economic outlook for 2018. "The Economic Outlook Forum continues to grow every year, and we expect another large turnout," said Hoppy Cole, President and CEO of The First. "It gives us an opportunity to visit with people from the Gulf South region, to find out what is going on and how our company can be of service."
Wells Fargo has donated a 105-year-old iconic bank building in downtown Roanoke to Virginia Community Capital, which plans to open a dialogue with residents about what the structure could become. Leah Fremouw, Director of Community Impact at VCC, said that their organization intends to "direct the redevelopment off the 55,000-square-foot property into a practical use that further strengthens the central core of the city, enhances economic development, creates jobs, and potentially expands downtown development opportunities for others."
This article highlights Spring Bank's Grow Loan Program for small businesses with capital needs of less than $150,000 -- a typical cutoff for small business loans from a bank. It highlights the beneficial effects of the program on specific ventures spearheaded by women and minority entrepreneurs. "If you look at every one of our Grow Loan clients, you will find a really compelling story in every one of them," said Ines Marino, Spring Bank's director of small business lending.
Amalgamated Bank in New York, which recently agreed to buy a West Coast institution, has big plans to operate in a number of major U.S. cities. Amalgamated, for its part, envisions becoming an institution with operations in other left-leaning cities such as Austin, Texas; Boston; and Chicago, said Keith Mestrich, the bank's president and CEO. Expansion could involve branches or acquisitions. Amalagamated Bank, alongside CDBA members Southern Bancorp, Sunrise Banks, and Beneficial State Bank, is a part of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values -- a group focused on reaching underserved populations.
In this article, Carl Hairston, Executive Vice President and Chief Lending Officer at City First Bank, is interviewed by the Huffington Post on corporate social responsibility and the ideal framework for deepening company impact. "98% of bank deposits in DC are placed within 24 banks, and those 24 all make more investments outside of the DC market than they do within it," Hairston explained. "Our mission is to go to whatever prudent and reasonable lengths we can in order to help those individuals access the working capital they need for viable credit opportunities."
This week, the Board of Trustees for Adams State University in Alamosa, Colorado approved the naming of the new First Southwest Bank Center for Economic Opportunity on campus. The center will open in January 2018 and will focus on community-based strategic planning and trainings to promote local business startups, thereby improving job creation, job retention, and local income levels. The University's expertise in business education and community partnerships will inform the project design and approach.
In this article, the American Banker discusses how OneUnited Bank in Boston has a plan to remain relevant while continuing to press for social justice. The nation's biggest black-owned bank has adopted a business model aimed at becoming a digitally-focused retail bank. It has scaled back its physical operations, closing a pair of branches in Los Angeles last year. It has also added thousands of ATMs that customers can access without a fee, and it plans to add Apple Pay to its menu of online services. The strategic shift comes at a critical time.