Monday, January 30, 2017

The future of the Seaway Bank

Does the bank & name survive?
The closure of Seaway Bank and FDIC orchestrated purchase by the State Bank of Texas has certainly come as a huge shock. There have been rumblings that there had been trouble at the bank for the past two years. This even though it was in the news that Seaway Bank within the last three years was actually making a profit.

What this means is that Veranda Dickens is no longer majority owner and Seaway Bancshares holding company no longer own the 52 year old bank. Essentially and perhaps many of you already figured this out, the bank is no longer Black-owned. Regardless as happens in situations like that such as this operations are basically status quo for a while at which point the new ownership starts making decisions that makes sense for them.


Saturday night I saw that Seaway's ig account had been reactivated with the last post was to let the world know that the bank is hiring. Problem is the website is still down unless job seeking individuals should for the moment visit the career page of the State Bank of Texas - which has no job postings at all. BTW, State Bank already has a presence on Devon Avenue so they're not that unfamiliar with the Chicago market.

The reactivation of the bank's ig account could be one indication that the Seaway name will survive. That may mean the brand is still significant and they recognize as an Indian-American owned bank that they will be serving a different market now. I could see them keeping Seaway as a subsidiary until whatever time they may decide to sell the bank. Perhaps depending on whether or not regulators may approve any potential sale. Or whether or not this is a successful enough operation where they will choose to keep the bank.

BTW, we've covered bank closings before especially the ShoreBank closing. We covered that somewhat with all the media attention because of any perceived political favoritism towards them. Seaway had been one of the largest Black-owned banks in the nation until the FDIC and State Bank took over. This is a very significant story and like the closure of ShoreBank takes place directly in our community.

For this new re-iteration of Seaway Bank under non-Black ownership what does the future hold?

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