The national business headlines may contain dire warnings about big losses for big banks, but there’s no shortage of business folks who want to start new banks. The Federal Reserve is so interested in helping new banks, especially minority-owned institutions, that it recently launched its Partnership for Progress program.

In discussing the program, the Fed notes there are three major phases to a bank’s business cycle:

Business Launch – management and planning before the bank begins business

Transition – operations for years 1-5

Maximizing Shareholder Value – operations for year 5 and beyond

As part of this program, the Fed has also provided peer data on operating statistics for minority-owned banks, by size, across the country. If a new minority-owned bank has opened in your market, share the data on this program and pitch a new ad campaign.

[Source: Federal Reserve release, June 2008]