A bank focused on protecting the environment plans to open in Philadelphia early next year after raising $2 million in initial capital from 35 investors.
e3bank's founders say they expect to raise another $28 million on the idea that supporting people and businesses devoted to environmental protection will prove profitable even in today's economy.
"How big e3 will get as a bank is anybody's guess," said e3bank chairman Sandy Wiggins, 51, a real estate consultant and immediate past chairman of the U.S. Green Building Council. But he predicted that the green movement is "going to be widely adopted across the financial services industry."
Beyond making its own operations environmentally friendly — minimizing paper use and even waiving ATM fees to discourage customers from driving more than necessary — e3bank plans to offer customers better rates for loans that finance projects deemed environmentally sound.
"We are really designing our products and services to incentivize people to do better," Mr. Wiggins said.
Frank J. Baldassarre, a 27-year industry veteran who will be e3bank's president and chief executive, said he originally viewed the green movement as a way to make money in real estate lending. But over time, he said, he began to believe in the cause and realized he was "part of the problem, not the solution."
He said he changed his personal habits to be more environmentally friendly, then examined his profession for ways to motivate it to be more "green."
"One of the things I saw was, there was a huge void in financial services providers that understand this stuff," he said. "Fundamentally, there's been a huge cultural shift. People are becoming much more aware of the impact we are having on our surroundings."
Mr. Baldassarre, 46, was a senior vice president at Fox Chase Bank in Hatboro, Pa., and before that a commercial real estate lender at First Financial Bank in Downingtown, Pa. e3bank's co-founders met through the Delaware Valley Green Building Council, which Mr. Wiggins founded and Mr. Baldassarre joined.
They said they raised their $2 million in two days from 35 investors mainly within the green community. The bank has six full-time employees, including the two founders. It is applying for a state charter and deposit insurance.
The bank plans to start up with a branch downtown and another in the Philadelphia suburbs; it will add offices carefully. "The greenest building you build is one that you don't build," Mr. Baldassarre said.
The three e's of the bank's name refer to sustainable enterprise, restoring the environment, and increasing social equity.
The founders said they announced their formation so far in advance of opening in an attempt to stake out a pioneering role in green banking and to generate interest in environmental sustainability.
"We feel that we have a good story to tell," Mr. Baldassarre said, adding, "We want the people in our area to get into this."
