Meet 2 Black Bankers to Purchase a Bank for $200 Million

TWO BLACK ENTREPRENEURS ARE RAISING $200M TO PURCHASE A BANK FOR UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES

Darnell Parker and Derek Taylor, two banking veterans and the owners of Ingenious Financial, have announced plans to raise $200 million Series A funding to purchase an existing bank.‬ ‬‬‬‬‬Parker, who is the company's founder, and Taylor, who is the company's COO, say they are setting out to own a bank to better serve underserved and underbanked communities.

“Minority banks play an important role in the economic empowerment of minority communities and these financial institutions have long been considered as innovators in banking,” says Mr. Parker. “But in recent years, they have not always managed to keep up with technological advances.”

Parker and Taylor are launching the capital campaign to purchase a bank already insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), bypassing the strict regulations and other challenges that come with starting a bank from scratch. Mr. Parker says. “When larger financial institutions absorbed some of the minority deposit institutions banks, they left a tremendous void for these banks, who previously served minority communities by providing small to medium-sized business loans."