Seeking FDIC approval, Internet-based bank with local ties, pledges to help underserved communities

By Christopher Tidmore
Contributing Writer

The biggest challenge for people of color is accessing capital, says New Orleans restaurateur Henry Coaxum Jr., the founder and chairman emeritus of the New Orleans Business Alliance and one of the most noted African-American entrepreneurs in the country.

“How do you help your community?” he asked in an interview with The Louisiana Weekly. “You help them to get equity, by getting loans.”

The singular challenge for Black community development – and the advancement of many other minority communities – rests in the basic inability to obtain the seed capital to build a business, purchase a home, or start a new life.

Minority contractors cannot qualify for readily available construction work because they lack the indemnification to obtain surety bonds. In general, backing the efforts of small entrepreneurs could revitalize communities, providing employment and opportunities, but these small businesspeople often lack the personal assets for most banks to consider extending loans. Most importantly, home ownership changes the entire trajectory of families, all points Coaxum emphasized. Yet, he added, that one of the greatest mistakes of banks, both locally and nationally, is in their hesitation to participate in the Fresh Start, Re-Entry Loan Programs.

“When you come out of prison, no one wants to touch you,” he lamented. A loan to provide the seed capital to start a new life makes all the difference in fighting recidivism, and improving communities. As a restauranteur, Coaxum has worked to provide the formerly incarcerated with jobs and opportunities, but he also learned that a certain amount of startup monies proved critical at these times and that providing such a capital, at a reasonable interest rate, was a very safe and profitable investment.

As a long-time board member of several financial institutions, he saw that many banks nationwide define all lending based on previously obtained assets, instead of business models. That choice locks out aspirational entrepreneurs with a dream, a plan and an opening in the marketplace. Coaxum and his team hope to change that.

Coaxum’s board – which includes luminaries like former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt, World Wide Ship Supply President Andrew Cobb, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan CEO Allison Young, philanthropist Robert Vaughn, 21CFS CEO Michael Perry, Jefferson DA Paul Connick and renowned Drs. Bradley Bartholomew and Richard and Kimberley Russo – seek to create a new national bank, headquartered in New Orleans, dedicated to lending to ethnicities and social groups often overlooked by mainstream financial institutions. Such a strategy is not just good for communities, Coaxum noted, it’s good business, he said.

The proposed VIZ Bank & Trust N.A. will seek conditional approval from the FDIC in the next two week, and will be “a new family-centric, internet-based bank combining modern banking and technology in a café-style setting in multiple major markets,” as their outline reads. “VIZ bank was conceived and developed by a group of diverse professionals who are highly experienced in all aspects of banking, finance and investments. VIZ Bank’s commitment to provide unparalleled personal service coupled with leading-edge banking technology makes VIZ Bank a unique and inviting partner for today’s busy consumer.”

If anything, that quote stands as an understatement. While most of the banks national operations will be online, VIZ’s management team (which includes veteran banking experts David Anderson, Joe Dorsey, Darren Diamond, Andrew Nash and Toni Hackett-Andrum) plan to open what they call “VIZ LIFE CENTERS” in New Orleans and Houston immediately, closely followed by Washington, D.C., Miami, Atlanta, Denver and Dallas. These facilities fight the “digital divide,” by providing daily bank access with an organic coffee shop/health bar, Yoga/Pilates Studio, Holistic Medical offices, technology friendly courtyard and conference room/office incubator space for VIZ members. Coaxum says that for-profit corporations engaging in this type of urban-focused, community-building activities is simply good business. “You have to get community-centric, because that’s your customer base,” he said.

VIZ Bank’s proposed outreach to labor unions, first responders, K-12 schools and religious groups will also provide unconventional banking opportunities. Automated teller locations where people can make deposits, withdrawals and conduct most branch banking operations will be offered to union halls and community centers around the country. They will match the bank’s Union Apprenticeship Lending Program, financial literacy and better credit scores outreach (to help provide lower rates on mortgages), and worldwide no-fee ATM access. By maximizing cooperative efforts, the bank has pledged to federal regulators that its lowest paid full-time employee will earn $50,000 per year with 100 percent company-paid major medical, and the highest paid employee will not make more than 10 times that of the lowest.

VIZ Bank’s filing manages to do all of this and still maintain a ratio better than most lending institutions between deposits and loans, making it a stable bank, thanks to the use of technology and engagement with the community. With New Orleans as the national HQ, the Crescent City has the chance to launch a paradigm-changing lending institution that merges reasonable profit with a socially-conscious approach to banking – and community outreach.

This article originally published in the March 22, 2021 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.