Iberiabank in New Orleans has bought a small stake in one of the nation's biggest black-owned banks.
The $20 billion-asset Iberiabank said in a press release Wednesday that it invested $1.5 million for a less than 5% stake in Liberty Financial Services in New Orleans, the holding company for the $600 million-asset Liberty Bank.
Liberty, formed in 1972, is the third-largest black-owned bank in the country.
"Liberty Bank is a well-capitalized bank and a well-run institution," Daryl Byrd, Iberiabank's president and chief executive, said in the release. Byrd added that he had known Alden McDonald Jr., Liberty's president and chief executive, and Norman Francis, the bank's chairman, for many years.
"As business and community leaders, they have been instrumental in promoting entrepreneurship and empowering people through education and home ownership," Byrd said.
