Adelphi Bank will open soon in the King-Lincoln Bronzeville neighborhood and is the only Black-owned bank in Ohio. Located on the Near East Side of Columbus it offers banking services not readily available in that community.
"Members of the Black community have been underserved and underbanked for years and years and years,” said Jordan Miller, co-founder, CEO and chair of Adelphi Bank. “And it's been a perpetual time and it's not an easy thing to solve, but right now, we just think it's important."
Miller, former regional president of Fifth-Third Central Ohio brings his 40 plus years of banking expertise to Adelphi Bank. He says the bank building at 800 East Long Street underwent a complete renovation. Miller says the inside looks more like a coffee shop. There is one teller counter and a seating area for conferences in the main space of the bank. Small offices are available for meetings with a bank official.
"Right now, we just think it's important to lift up our community, to help them with the issues that they face, the daily challenges with poverty with their own lives,” said Miller.
Adelphi Bank is named after the financial institution Adelphi Loan and Savings Company that did business on the same street in the 1920s. However, the Great Depression in the 1930s led to its collapse.
"Just think over 100 years ago when that bank was founded, they had a mission and a lot has not been fulfilled,” said Miller. “That mission hasn't been fulfilled, so we're here to carry it on and take it as far as we can go and help as many people as we can in this community."
Miller said the idea of the bank developed after George Floyd’s murder when he received a call from Franklin County Commissioner Kevin Boyce. Other prominent Black Columbus leaders joined the effort to focus on accessing minority communities with financial and banking services.
“Car loans, housing loans or mortgage loans, those kinds of things, credit cards and of course, on the commercial side, lines of credit, commercial real estate investing and commercial depository services, card services and the like,” said Miller.
Miller and his partners raised $25 million to start Adelphi Bank. They also had to get approval from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Ohio Department of Financial Institutions.
Miller said the bank will be reaching out to various communities as it expands its business.
“Our location is here, but the deals that we're looking at are all across Franklin County,” said Miller. “We'll obviously want to do deals in this neighborhood, in Linden, and other minority tracts that we've identified where we want to do business. But we are we're open to do business all around the state if we find a good deal that that makes sense for our balance sheet.”
Miller said the plan is for the bank to be fully operational by mid-April.
