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Indians start South Asian bank in US
The bank promises quality financial products and a facility to talk to customers in regional languages.
Some influential Indian Americans have set up the first community bank for South Asians in the US that promises high quality financial products and even a facility to talk to customers in languages like Punjabi, Gujarati and Malayalam.
Called Indus American Bank, it will be formally inaugurated January 15 and had a soft opening about two weeks ago.
The more than $2 million (Rs 90 million) it has already received in deposits is proof of the immediate support it has generated from the Indian-dominated South Asian community in New Jersey since it was conceived about a year ago.
"This in itself shows that a bank that exclusively caters to the specific needs of the South Asian community was long required. It is the need of the hour," Kevin M. Lenihan, CEO, Indus American Bank, told the agency.
The first branch is located on Oak Tree Road, the heart of the South Asian community in New Jersey. Over 125 shareholders have invested start-up capital of over $12 million through private placement.
Lenihan, who has previously worked in Spanish and Chinese community banks, said the South Asian community bank would be financially successful given the rapidly increasing financial power of the community.
Given the cultural and linguistic diversity of the community, which according to the latest census numbers 340,000 in New Jersey, the management has introduced a multi-lingual customer service.
It will have a facility to talk to customers in half a dozen languages: Hindi, Punjabi, Gujarati, Malayalam, Sindhi and English.
"This is being done so that people feel at home," said Anil Bansal, co-chairman and founder of the bank. For the senior citizens, linguistic barrier is a major problem, he observed.
There are more facilities for the elderly. Bansal said the bank has introduced home courier service, under which it would pick up cheques and deliver cash to the elderly who cannot move during odd hours. In fact, the bank has a beautiful lobby where seniors can get together every Monday, by request, in the evenings.
"It is a bank founded for the South Asian community, from individuals to business owners, offering high quality financial products and personalised service," said Sharad Wagle, co-chairman of the bank.
Though there are quite a few banks owned by Indian Americans in the US like Horizon Bank in Atlanta, State bank of Texas in Texas and Republic Bank in Chicago, this is for the first time that a community bank for South Asians has been opened.
The "prototype" branch has been designed by the internationally renowned bank design firm JB&C.
Deepak Khanna, who conceptualised the bank, said Indus American Bank was one of the first US financial institutions focused on serving the rapidly growing ethnic Indian American and South Asian population.
Khanna, who is vice president of Jennison Associate, said the bank aimed at opening five branches in five years.
Hoping that the bank would grow at a phenomenal pace - as it has given indication during its soft opening - Khanna said Indus American would go public in the next few years on the lines of other ethnic Chinese and South Korean banks.
"They (Chinese and South Koreans) might be less in number than us, but they far outnumber when it comes to community banking. If they can do it, why can't we? We are better off than them," Khanna said.
