One of the biggest new banks to be started in Tennessee has begun raising at least $30 million of equity capital Friday to start a new bank in Chattanooga later this year.
The new bank, to be known as RockPoint Bank, is being organized by former Chattanooga bank executives and business and community leaders. Even with 28 commercial banks now operating in metro Chattanooga, organizers said they see a need for another locally owned and managed bank since more than 90% of the nearly $10.2 billion of bank deposits in the metro area are now held by banks headquartered outside of Chattanooga.
“When the organizing group decided to take the leap to form a new local bank in our community, it was because we saw a void in the local banking landscape, and we felt it was an opportunity to make an investment in our community.” said Hamp Johnston, formerly market executive for JP Morgan Chase & Co,.and a former manager at First Tennessee Bank who will serve as president and CEO of RockPoint Bank.
In its organizing documents, RockPoint plans to raise a minimum of $30 million in stock – and could raise up to $40 million of equity capital – by the end of April to facilitate opening the new bank with a downtown location by this summer.
As proposed, RockPoint will be a full-service commercial bank with an emphasis on businesses with annual revenues of $1 million to $50 million. There are over 6,000 businesses in the Chattanooga metro area in that sales range.