Foster Bank1 is one of fifteen minority banks in Illinois that are on track to success. Seven other banks in its minority status have posted losses in the first half of this year. In her business column today, Chicago Tribune’s Becky Yerak2 seeks to unravel what has driven Foster Bank to go against such odds. (The FDIC defines minority banks as those where the majority of the institution’s stocks are owned by "Black American, Asian American, Hispanic American, or Native American", and, additionally, where the bank’s board and the community it serves are as such.3)
According to Miss Yerak, the organization’s chief executive, Paul Byungtag Kim, attributes the bank’s positive status to the hefty portion of its loans going to commercial real estate that are owner-occupied hence less likely to become delinquent or fall into disrepair. But, perhaps, it is also because the bank clearly embraces the diversity of the community it serves. Miss Yerak writes:
1fosterbank.comMore than 80 percent of Foster's customer base is Korean, but increasingly its main office at 5225 N. Kedzie Ave. serves Spanish-speaking and Arab customers. A branch on Devon caters to Pakistani and Indian consumers, while Russians heavily patronize its locations in Niles and Lincolnshire. Its Naperville office serves a Chinese population. To better serve its clientele, bank employees speak a dozen languages.
2Becky Yerak, “Foster Bank sees profits as other minority banks struggle”, Chicago Tribune, Oct. 12, 2009
3fdic.gov
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