Kansas’ CBW Hopes To Reshape Banking Industry

Date: December 16, 2014

Small Institution Is More Willing Than Larger Banks To Take On New Risks

CBW, in Weir, Kansas, is being touted as an
experiment with a new kind of small business. CBW began as the Citizens Bank of
Weir, and while its owners continue to make loans and hold deposits for the
residents of Weir, they also hope to reshape the risk-averse banking industry
by offering services larger banks do not, including instant payments to any
bank in the country, direct remittance transfers abroad and specialized debit
cards. While larger banks are less willing to take new risks, particularly in
the wake of the financial crisis, CBW, which has only one bank, is more willing
to do so.

CBW already
provides services to several Silicon Valley start-ups and plans to provide
accounts to consumers outside Kansas.

What This Means For Small Business:

Small businesses are not always well-served by the current banking system, and
such a new style of bank could ease the difficulty of acquiring capital to
expand.

Additional Reading:

In its “DealBook”
blog, the New York
Times
reports
on CBW and profiles its owners, Suresh Ramamurthi and his wife, Suchitra
Padmanabhan, who bought the bank largely with their own savings in 2009.

Read more about what NFIB is doing for small business in Kansas.

This news article is intended to keep small business owners apprised of current events that may affect them. It does not necessarily reflect NFIB’s policy position on such issues.

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