AS COMMUNITY BANKS DISAPPEAR, ISF BANK FILLS THE GAP

Due to Seaway Banking closure Jan 27, 2017, ISF Bank will serve as the only black owned bank in the city of Chicago. ISF Bank Executive Vice President Monica Thomas said the bank plans to continue to serve the needs of the black community and fill any gaps that appear. Photo Credit: Christopher Shuttlesworth
Due to Seaway Banking closure Jan 27, 2017, ISF Bank will serve as the only black owned bank in the city of Chicago. ISF Bank Executive Vice President Monica Thomas said the bank plans to continue to serve the needs of the black community and fill any gaps that appear. Photo Credit: Christopher Shuttlesworth

AS COMMUNITY BANKS DISAPPEAR, ISF BANK FILLS THE GAP

By Chris Shuttlesworth

Illinois Service Federal Savings Bank (ISF Bank)

will celebrate its 83rd anniversary with a customer appreciation event on May 18, 2017 and has plans to serve Chicago’s black community better now and into the future. With an experienced

board of directors, upgraded technology, an infusion of new capital and a strong management team, ISF Bank is ready to meet the needs of the community for the long term. ISF Bank’s CEO Robert

Klamp, a banker with decades of experience in community banking in Chicago, Illinois, will lead the main branch at 4619 S. Dr. Martin Luther King Drive., and the second branch at 8700 S. King Drive,

according to an ISF press release.

“We’re very excited to be celebrating [ISF Bank] 83rd anniversary because it’s sometimes difficult for small institutions to have a period of longevity,” said ISF Executive Vice President Monica Thomas.

The ISF press release stated that during the Great Migration, ISF Bank was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois. The Bank offered home and business loans to many African- Americans who moved

north to escape the limited economic opportunities in the segregated South.

The Bank’s doors opened to a one-room o©ce on 70 East 47th

Street with deposits of $7,000.00. The first few depositors had balances ranging from $4.00 to $50.00. ISF first employees were black women who owned and managed the savings and loans (S&L) and began to make deposits in earnest. In the fall of 2000, ISF Bank opened a new, state of- the-art facility at 8700 S. King Drive. Today the association serves over 14,000 customers and has assets

of more than $133 million dollars, according to ISF Bank.

The plans of ISF will be to continue to support the black

community and help youth learn more about the business of the

banking industry. In the summer of 2017, ISF bank will offer internships for high school and college students that will provide

learning opportunities in the banking industry. With the closing of Seaway Bank & Trust, on Jan. 27, 2017, ISF became the lone Chicago-based black-owned banking institution in Chicago and among the estimated 20 left in the United States, according to an ISF press release.

Seaway Bank & Trust Company, Chicago, Illinois was closed by the Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation - Division of Banking, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was named Receiver. All deposit accounts, including

brokered deposits, have been transferred to State Bank of Texas, Dallas, TX (“assuming institution”) and will be available immediately. The former Seaway Bank and Trust Company locations will reopen as branches of State Bank of Texas during regular business hours,

according to the federal deposit insurance corporation (FDIC).

“As the community evolves, ISF Bank hopes we can fill the [missing] gap of [Seaway Bank] and remain loyal, mission driven and continue to fill the gap as community banks begin to disappear,” Thomas said.

According to the FDIC, Seaway Bank and Trust Company was a full-service commercial bank, which was established Jan. 2, 1965 to

emphasize quality service and community commitment. Seaway

opened for business in a rented storefront located at 8555 S. Cottage Grove Avenue in Chicago, Illinois and its permanent headquarters was the (Chatham Branch) located at 645 E. 87th Street was opened Nov. 18, 1965. The bank had approximately

$361.2 million in total assets and $307.1 million in total deposits

September 30, 2016. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, State Bank of Texas agreed to purchase $309.0 million of the failed bank’s assets. The FDIC will retain the remaining assets for later disposition. The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $57.2 million.

ISF Bank has been fortunate to attract needed capital from the

Ghanaian-American Nduom family who has roots in the Midwest. The Nduom family’s business holdings employ more than 5,000 people in West Africa, Europe and North America. Their investments include hospitality, financial services, media and entertainment,

sports, and real estate, according to an ISF press release.

In order to become a member of ISF Bank you can apply online at https://www.isfbank.com/ with four dfferent account options such as the personal checking account, renaissance checking account, retail checking and statement savings accounts, according to the Seaway Bank.

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