Women-owned institutions prep for generational transfer

When Fortuna Bank opened its doors at the end of January, it became one of fewer than 20 banks owned by women in the country. Ilaria Rawlins, CEO of Fortuna, has been developing the bank in Grandview Heights, Ohio, for three years. When Co-founder and Chair Lisa Berger brought the idea to Rawlins, she knew it was the right time to open the first majority women-owned bank in the state.

“Women stand to inherit the majority of the great wealth transfer that’s taking place from Baby Boomers to the next generation,” she said. “If you think about it in a very general sense, women are great at day-to-day money management. Yet, we’re not necessarily the ones who are making the decisions for retirement planning or generating wealth.”

One of Fortuna’s focuses is to teach women better financial literacy when it comes to the estimated $124 trillion that is expected to move between generations in the next 20 years. The bank held its grand opening on Jan. 30. Fortuna, however, is not alone. More than 1,000 miles south, Agility Bank opened its doors in 2022 in Houston, Texas, with similar goals.

Melodie Harris, the bank’s COO, comes from a similar background as Rawlins. Both have two sisters and are moms to their own daughters. Harris said her family is one of the drivers of her work at Agility Bank.

“It’s important for me to portray to my family, to my girls, that they can be financially literate,” she said. “I want everybody to see that it is attainable for them — women, minorities, anybody in the community.”

Harris began her banking career as a teller and moved up over the years. In her role, she encourages more women in the community to begin their own businesses, after her own trajectory led her to a position she never dreamed of at the bank.

Cultivating community

Agility focuses on building community inside and outside of the bank. Harris said she is always working to grow partnerships with the community as well as within her team. She follows an open door policy and encourages the younger employees to pitch ideas and innovate in their roles.

For her customers, Harris said the bank’s women-focused mission has her always concentrated on doing right by Houston. “Being a community bank in Houston, which has such diversity, it’s really critical that we take good care of our relationships with all our customers,” she said.

“They are our neighbors and we are here to partner with them however they need.”

In her everyday work, Harris said she wants to create a “culture of accountability” for her team as a form of empowerment. She encourages everyone involved with Agility Bank to feel they have some ownership in the bank.

“I’ve been proud of the team that we’re developing, of the culture that we’re developing here, and of the impact that we’re making in the community one step at a time,” she said. “Our customers feel like they’re part of the family. That’s old school banking and, to me, that’s really important. That’s what sets us apart from the bigger banks; it’s the personal touch we can give.”

Building better small businesses

For Rawlins, the mission at Fortuna makes her think about the impact of the bank more frequently. Although they’ve only been open for a few months, she said the bank is focused on hearing everyone’s stories while building and maintaining relationships as Fortuna grows.

As the bank outpaces its initial goals, Rawlins said the bank’s leadership is hoping to continue to offer entrepreneurial and network experiences for its customers. Fortuna held its first networking event in late March.

“We want to be a great bank for everybody, for the entire community, men and women,” she said. “Our philanthropic efforts will really focus on women and that’s through building a community where there are resources available for business owners, our employees and our shareholders, to be able to connect and utilize each other.”

According to a 2023 U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, nearly 40 percent of small businesses in the country are owned by women. These businesses employ more than 10 million workers. A Wells Fargo report from January found that women-owned businesses are driving economic growth and are currently growing faster than men-owned ones. The report found that $2.7 trillion is generated from women-owned businesses, including some in new industries for female entrepreneurs, like the transportation and warehouse industries.

Fortuna’s philanthropic side, Rawlins said, is looking to capitalize on the growth of women-owned businesses nationwide. She said the bank is discussing creating access to loan programs specifically for female entrepreneurs and developing a mentorship program for women in the local business community.

Both Rawlins and Harris said they hope more women will start small businesses and turn to both Fortuna and Agility Banks to continue to build their ideas.

“My biggest recommendation to everybody out there is to make sure you have a banker, make sure you know their name and make sure you know their cell number,” Rawlins said. “Because that’s what community banks can give: support when things get tough.”

Lowering barriers for investment

When Fortuna Bank was looking for initial investors, they realized a problem, Rawlins said: Most of the women who would invest in the bank were first time investors who may not have the typical level of capital needed to launch a bank.

Rawlins said that was something the bank took into consideration to make sure Fortuna was starting with its mission and goals at heart from before it opened its doors.

“We also knew that women don’t often see private equity investment opportunities,” she said. “So we wanted to set the bar lower so that it wasn’t as intimidating. Our entry point was $10,000 to be a shareholder. Seventy-five percent of our shareholders are women.”

Setting the shareholder amount lower allowed more first-time investors and more women to have a say in the bank, Rawlins said, something she is proud of. The 350 shareholders are championing the bank already.

“They talk about Fortuna, refer friends and family to the bank,” Rawlins said. “Just through those avenues, it’s really been wonderful to see the support the bank’s gotten. I think people are really excited.”

Other women-owned banking options

Leaders of women-owned banks are excited about the opportunities their banks present for more minority-owned depositories in the future. Other women-owned banks have found success across the country in recent years. First Women’s Bank in Chicago opened in 2021. The bank now has partnerships and deposits with some of the country’s biggest companies, including Microsoft, Principal and Comcast.

In First Women’s Bank’s Impact Report last year, it said the bank will continue to work to close the “gender lending gap” and connect with businesses looking for growth opportunities. Across the country in San Francisco, Beacon Business Bank has been women-owned since its founding in 1984. It has two branches and focuses on helping small businesses with many services.

At Agility, Harris said there is a need to think outside the box to help more women get into the workforce, build businesses and manage their finances effectively. Rawlins believes this is only the beginning for more majority-women owned banks and financial institutions that focus on supporting women. She said she expects many other banks to find similar success in coming years.

“Banks in general, even the large banks, are finding ways to be a little bit niche oriented because it’s impossible to talk to the entire spectrum of consumers that are out there,” she said. “I believe that the women’s space — through the money that’s set to be transferred through this great wealth transfer, through women-owned businesses — are growing through the passion around what women are doing and knowing that women are succeeding ... There’s clearly an opportunity to be intentional in this space and to succeed, grow and evolve.”