A group of Black investors under Redemption Holding Co (RHC) closed out Black History Month the right way with the announcement of their acquistion of a bank that was previously white-owned, The Grio reports.
Three years ago, Dr. Bernice King, the daughter of Civil Rights leaders Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, and former White House policy adviser Ashley D. Bell founded the National Black Bank Foundation. Since then, they’ve driven $600 million into Black-owned banks; now, along with former NFL player Dhani Jones, they’re accomplishing an even more immense feat. The investors have recently obtained the Holladay Bank & Trust located in Utah. This acquisition represents the first purchase of a white-owned bank by African-American investors, and will become the only Black-owned bank in the Mountain West region of the country.
The previously woman-led white-owned bank, which has been operating since 1974, will now be a branch that's focused on providing online banking services and small business loans to members in underserved communities. Once the regulatory approval clears, the investors have the name, Redemption Bank, waiting for the space that is quite fitting for the achievement.
Dr. Bernice King, RHC’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Alliances, stated, "In my father's last public address on April 3, 1968, he preached the imperative to accelerate the financial inclusion of Black Americans by supporting mission-driven Black banks—something he called a 'bank-in movement.' More than half a century of struggle and incremental progress later, we're making good on daddy's call to bank-in by creating new centers of opportunity for people of color, starting with this Black-led bank acquisition. Redemption is just that: delivering families from the cycle of unjust financial exclusion and intergenerational poverty."
RHC's Chief Executive Officer Ashley D. Bell told AJC, “Black banks make the American dream possible for all Americans by deploying resources that uniquely address the financial realities of communities that have been systematically excluded, overcharged and undercapitalized for hundreds of years. Redemption will serve as a lifeline to the next wave of Black and Brown first-time home buyers and small business entrepreneurs across the country.”
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