The financial environment
has major national U.S.-based financial institutions
consolidating, closing branches,
combining computer systems,
changing the products and
services they offer, laying off
employees and figuring out how
to remain solvent while taking
on the financial failures of an
acquired bank.
Many smaller community
banks, meanwhile, remain strong
and ready to provide loans, albeit
under strict guidelines.
Los Angeles is home to many
Black-owned, Latino-owned and
Asian-owned community banks.
It is not unusual for the CEOs of
these banks to chat face-to-face
with customers or host financial-education seminars within their
respective communities.
Most community banks have
their smaller size to thank for their
strong status. It simply was not
financially feasible for these banks
to participate in the
subprime-lending
market, explains
Paul Hudson, a
third-generation
chairman and CEO
of the Los Angeles–
based and Black-managed Broadway
Federal Bank.
“It didn’t make
sense to make
loans to people
when you knew
they couldn’t make the payment,”
says Hudson. “Currently, our
portfolio is making a profit. The
fact that we’re still lending is the
biggest thing we’re doing to help
the neighborhoods we serve.”
Broadway Federal Bank, which
has a 60-year history in Los
Angeles, held a town-hall meeting
for its members in October.
“I have a direct relationship
with Paul [Hudson]. How many
banks do you go to where you
Paul Hudson
of Broadway
Federal Bank
get to meet the chairman?” asks
Derek Folk, president of Williams
Tax and Financial Group.
“We were with [a national bank]
for 30 years and I never met anyone beyond the branch manager,”
