A group of financial industry executives and entrepreneurs are looking to create a new community bank based in Arizona, marking what could be the fourth one to open within a year.
According to Thompson, Zenith has already raised $22 million in capital and is hoping to obtain regulatory approval to open as early as March. He declined to disclose investors but typically a startup bank's executive group are among the investors who usually come in with a six-figure sum. Thompson said the investor group consists of about 33 families.
“We started actually having people flooding in their commitments two days ago,” Thompson said in an interview with the Business Journal on Jan. 5. “I anticipate that we'll have at least a minimum raise in the next few weeks.” “We want the money to stay here in the community and with opening a locally owned and operated bank, we get to support the local community, and I think that's really important," Thompson said.Zenith’s charter application lists seven organizers, some of whom have banking industry experience.
“We've made great progress as a company to build that portion of the business,” he said. “Ultimately, the Zenith brand will be an integration of the wealth management company, the bank trust company that's been formed, which was part of the application to the FDIC, and a mortgage company.”