Former Detroit Piston Isiah Thomas has slam dunked an equity investment into what is set to be the nation's first multistate African-American owned bank holding company.
The former All-Star guard said he has become a principal investor in OmniBanc Corp., River Rouge, Mich., which aims to redevelop the urban communities it enters.
OmniBanc's Detroit and Chicago markets suit Mr. Thomas, who grew up on Chicago's west side.
"I'm emotionally tied to both" cities, he said in a phone interview.
He said he hopes to develop partnerships with other professional athletes and entertainers who want to help rebuild inner cities.
"Anytime you have a chance to revitalize the community that you came from ... it's a very exciting challenge and a very exciting opportunity," he said.
J. Pat Hickman, president of First State Bank of Happy in the Texas Panhandle, doesn't strike you as a Madison Avenue type, but his ad tweeking Norwest has become a cult favorite of community bankers.
A year ago Norwest and Boatmen's bought banks in the Panhandle.
"Within three days the other two independent bank groups in Canyon [where First State has its sole branch] were both sold," Mr. Hickman said.
"Now, I don't like to run negative ads, but this was ridiculous and I felt it called for special measures."
In a full-page ad in local newspapers, Hickman excoriated the two newcomers in an open letter to their clients. Mr. Hickman summed it up this way: "Don't look for Norwest CEO Richard Kovacevich's phone number in the local directory. You won't find it. But, in case you don't have a Canyon phone book, here's mine."
Mr. Hickman said that since the ad appeared, he has received more than 200 requests for copies from bankers as far away as New Jersey and Wyoming.
A year later, what does he think of Norwest and Boatmen's in his market? "I love it," he said. "Norwest just officially changed its name from First National Bank in Canyon to Norwest Bank, and we're getting new business all over again."
Former Comptroller of the Currency Robert Clarke wasn't acting like the man bankers in New England dubbed the "regulator from Hell" in 1990.
After he stepped up to the podium in Austin, Texas, last month, he proceeded to engage in a little gratuitous regulator bashing before a very friendly audience of community bankers, contending that bank regulation had vastly overstepped its bounds and too many rules were stifling the industry.
He related this tidbit about his consulting work on building the financial regulatory system in Russia: "When we started telling them about all the rules they had to follow, their reaction was, `Well, we just got out from under too many rules. Why would we want to write them all over again?'"
