The last U.S. bank whose name declares it focused on women is going gender-neutral.
Denver-based Women's Bank is to become Colorado Business Bank on March 3.
Officials of the $143 million-asset bank said the local business community and the public don't understand its role and what it can offer. In particular, they said, men think the bank won't serve them.
"Our name did not speak to what we do," said president and chief executive Virginia K. Berkeley. "There was a misunderstanding in the business community in Denver about our bank."
The name change will mark low tide for the "women's banks" movement. At its height, in the 1980s, there were more than 15 such banks. But as ordinary banks found businesswomen bankable after all, women's banks made their marketing more mainstream.
Though numerous banks may still be owned by women, only five of those that applied for regulatory classifcation as women-owned remain in business. Only three of those were started on feminist principles, and only Women's Bank in Denver still has a name that implies a that focus.
Women's Bank is still sensitive to women's needs, Ms. Berkeley said, but men have owned most of the stock for almost a decade.
The name change will leave only one bank founded as a women's bank with a moniker that even dimly reflects that history: $101 million-asset FWB Bank of Rockville, Md.
But FWB will soon change its name, too.
"There has been a change in the women's movement," Steven K. Colliatie, president and chief executive. Women's ability "to go out and get credit facilities from an array of financial institutions has taken away the need to have a women's bank."
Mr. Colliatie said the erroneous public perception that FWB is still a women's bank makes it hard to appeal to a wider community. Men think it is for women only, he said.
"We need a name that all segments of the community can relate to, and that they can feel comfortable with," Mr. Colliatie said. The bank is to reveal its new name within 90 days.
In fact, FWB's name has already changed once. Founded in 1979 as First Women's Bank, it became FWB in 1990 when New York-based First Women's Bank, now defunct, threatened to sue.
Only one bank, $114 million-asset Adams National Bank in Washington, still makes a special appeal to women. About 54% of its portfolio consists of loans to women, minorities, and their small businesses.
But Adams, too, has gone through a name change. Founded in 1977 as Women's National Bank, it switched names in 1986 to broaden its customer base.
"People had come to think over the years that the name was defining who the customer base was," said Barbara Blum, chairman and chief executive. "We want everybody's money so we can loan it out.
"We don't want to discriminate against men. That wouldn't be any better than discriminating against minorities."
