ABA Banking Journal - February 2008 - (Page 29)

Urban community banker Dorothy Bridges’ Franklin National Bank devotes itself to “socially responsible” banking D orothy Bridges is sitting in a booth in Loop, a Minneapolis restaurant, sipping at a soft drink. She’s lunching on her bank’s home turf, the North Minneapolis Warehouse District, and there’s little she can’t tell you about the area. Outside, on this brisk but sunny November afternoon, one can see the streets of the district, also called “The North Loop.” That name comes from long-gone rail and streetcar lines that served the once-bustling industrial enclave of the city, an area that fell on hard times. Much of the neighborhood’s industrial flavor remains, with some still-profitable firms doing business there in the heavy-boned industrial buildings. Some of the businesses are good customers. And, thanks to Franklin National Bank of Minneapolis and other players, the neighborhood has been undergoing a comeback. For instance, some of the buildings—now sporting names like “The Bookman Lofts” and “The Stacks”— have been turned from vacant or underutilized reminders of a wholly industrial past into condo and townhome buildings, housing a generation of urban pioneers who have helped make the community’s mixeduse future get off to a sound start. Bridges and her bank aren’t “paratroop bankers,” lenders and institutions that dip into urban communities from elsewhere to fulfill this or that short-term mission, and then move on. The fortunes of both banker and bank are tied very much to the Warehouse District and other Minneapolis neighborhoods and ethnic communities served by Franklin. The bank, in an expansion of its territory, moved its headquarters to its new building in the district in 2002. Bridges and her husband, Thomas “Rudy” Grant, and the youngest of her four children, live nearby. They moved to a townhome in the Hawthorne section after spending many years in the suburbs. Both Franklin Bank and its CEO are very much a part of the community. way of doing business at Franklin National, which goes by “Franklin Bank.” Serving nonprofit organizations— hundreds of them—and small businesses, and working with government agencies for community betterment, comprise much of the bank’s strategy towards being a “socially responsible” bank. Franklin Bank makes most of its loans right in its own neighborhoods, and is willing to take prudent risks to support those communities. While many of the organizations that the bank partners with in its community development lending are large, it also makes many loans to inexperienced borrowers who need a start. Management prides itself for underwriting based not only on collateral and cash flow, but also character. A good percentage of the bank’s business loans go to longterm credits for small businesses started by immigrants. Immigrant populations have boomed in Minneapolis. One recent report found that more than 80 languages are spoken in public schools by immigrants’ children in the Twin Cities’ area. Socially responsible by design Bridges, president and CEO of the $116.8 million-assets community bank, chairs the ABA America’s Community Bankers Council for 2007-2008. And though her community’s population dwarfs that of many locales served by her fellow council members, she is as much a community banker as any of them. What sets apart Franklin National and the two other banks in its holding company, Sunrise Community Banks, is their mission. The slogan on Bridges’ business card sums it up: “Leader in Improving Our Urban Community.” “Social responsibility” is part of that mission and a By Steve Cocheo, executive editor ALL PHOTOS BY SHEILA RYAN Banking, not charity “Social responsibility can be read as ‘making concessions,’ ‘settling for a lesser return,’ and for ‘giving away money’,” says Bridges, a veteran banker. But that’s not what she and her institution are about. “The challenge,” continues Bridges, “has always been to get people to understand that social responsibility is not only a great idea, but also a great business. You can do well by doing good.” Indeed, Bill Reiling, chairman of $478.1 million-assets Sunrise Community Banks, reminds the staff: “No margin, no mission.” Franklin has enjoyed steady growth for decades, and respectable returns as well. Return on assets averaged 1.8% from 2002-2006, and 2007 ROA came in at 2.16%. The recipe for “doing good” has many ingredients at Franklin Bank, which specializes in commercial real estate and business lending, with the goal of making those loans and serving those businesses and nonprofit organizations that can help sustain and rebuild the North Loop as well as other neighborhoods. As one learns more about Franklin Bank, it comes as no surprise that it received an “Outstanding” CRA rating from the Comptroller’s Office in its most recent exam, in 2003. The report termed its community development lending “excellent.” The bank has twice been designated a federal community development financial institution, and received two consecutive $500,000 awards from the Bank Enterprise Award Program. From drug zone to drug store It was understatement to say that the seven-and-halfblock area along East Franklin Avenue, about two miles from the bank’s present headquarters, had gone bad. ABA BANKING JOURNAL/FEBRUARY 2008 29 http://www.franklinbankmpls.com http://www.aba.com/About+ABA/CBC_about.htm http://www.aba.com/About+ABA/CBC_about.htm

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of ABA Banking Journal - February 2008

ABA Banking Journal - February 2008 Contents On ABABJ.COM: Have You Visited Our Brand-New Website? Editor's Column "That's Edutainment" Snapshot: Tier 1 Ratios Stable so Far 100th Anniversary: Then and Now ABA Resources ABA Chairman's Position Don't Despair Pass the Aspirin Cover Story: Socially Responsible Banking Profitably - Incoming America's Community Bankers Council Chairwoman, Dorothy Bridges Demonstrates the Way A True "Rags-to-Banker" Story Retail Banking: On the Money Hunt Community Bank Management: The Ugly Truth About Board Relations Does Core Really Matter? Security 2.0: Not Just a New Kettle of Phish A Personal Case of Mal-Serendipity DOD Credit Regs Demand Attention Mailbox Banker's Mart To Advertise/Index of Advertisers The Economy

ABA Banking Journal - February 2008

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