In a historic move, First Independence Bank is venturing outside of Detroit for the very first time in more than 50 years and opened two locations in Minnesota. On April 26, the first Black-owned bank opened in Minneapolis
First Independence Bank senior vice president and the Minnesota regional market president Damon Jenkins; and Kiko Davis, the bank’s majority stockholder, were present at the opening.
Rolling out spoke with two customers who opened accounts at the grand opening, and they are excited about the future of the Black-owned bank.
Note: The respondents did not want to be identified by name.
How does it feel to now be a part of First Independence Bank?
New customer 1 (woman): I’m excited, I’m super exited.
New customer 2 (man): It feels awesome, completely awesome. It’s a historic event and I’m glad to be here.
What do you think this will do for the community?
New customer 1: I will be encouraging people to come, especially minorities and Blacks. Since this [is] the first Black-owned bank, I will be spreading the news hoping that more people will come and that we will be [able to] open up more and more branches.
New customer 2: It will do awesome for the community as far as just something that a financial institution that represents us. You actually have people of color working, and we get to come to a place to see that.
What inspired you to come on grand opening day?
New customer 1: Me and Damon [Jenkins] go to the same church. Our pastor spoke about it in church, about us building our community and supporting our people so that we can grow in numbers and have more than what we have now.
