Chicago’s last Black-owned bank will receive a financial lifeline from the city that will also benefit the community.
The Chicago Tribune reports that the city announced on Monday that it will deposit $20 million into Illinois Service Federal Savings and Loan Association.
City Treasurer Kurt Summers said the deposit is intended to boost economic development in poor neighborhoods.
“It’s about being a community bank,” Summers said, according to The Tribune. “Community banks are a great opportunity for that because they are designed for the sole purpose of reinvesting in their local area.”
The expectation is that ISF Bank, which survived the financial crisis of the Great Recession, will have more funds available to provide loans to small business and homebuyers.
Bob Klamp, the bank’s president, told DNA Info that the infusion of cash raises ISF Bank’s holdings to about $130 million. Over the years, about 70 percent of its investments has gone into first-time residential mortgages. Now it will have more funds to invest in businesses located in the bank’s Bronzeville and Chatham community.
ISF Bank opened its doors in 1934, and it’s one of just a handful of remaining Black-owned banks across the country.
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This deposit breathes new life into the financial institution. It’s undergoing an overhaul through a $9 million investment from Ghana’s Nduom family, owners of the African-based banking conglomerate Groupe Nduom.
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune, DNA Info
Chicago Makes Community Investment With $20 Million Deposit Into City’s Last Black-Owned Bank was originally published on newsone.com
