A digital bank in Wisconsin targeting retail customers and a Florida bank seeking institutional clients are the latest bank charter applications.
In total, 13 companies have filed for de novo banks this year, surpassing the 2020 total. The latest de novo is Delafield, Wis.-based Virtue Bank, which plans to serve the Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis metro area while also building a national presence through online and digital channels. In particular, the bank's application details the demographics of three Wisconsin localities: Delafield, Hartland and Lake Geneva.
In its deposit insurance application filed with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Nov. 12, the bank said it will focus on individuals and small and medium-sized businesses, offering a range of deposit and loan products. McFarland, Wis.-based Digital First Bancorp Inc. will be the bank's ultimate parent. Michael Moderski, a veteran banker and one of the proposed bank's organizers, will be its CEO.
The other recent activity came from Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Multi-Bank, which refiled its deposit insurance application with the FDIC on Nov. 15. The bank is not classified as a de novo since it has a preexisting holding company and will focus solely on institutional clients, offering warehouse lending, money market deposit accounts, certificates of deposit and brokered deposits.
The proposed bank, which first applied for deposit insurance in 2020, refiled its application after the FDIC returned it for the second time this year.
At the end of October, Jacksonville, Fla.-based TIAA FSB filed a charter application to carve out its investment management, fiduciary and custody business into a separate bank.
According to the application with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the new entity will be named TIAA Trust NA, a nondepository trust that would take over the asset management services of its holding company, TIAA FSB.
John Pataky, TIAA FSB's executive vice president and chief banking officer, will be TIAA Trust's CEO.
In total, there have been 23 applications for new banking charters this year, four of which have been withdrawn, leaving 19 active applications.