First Women's Bank?
Am I the only that thinks this is cringe AF?
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Justine Tobin, pioneer of women’s investment banking: am I a joke to you?
Justine Tobin is an investment banker, of course, not a commercial banker. Jokes about Tobin are always welcome and are a mainstay of the site.
The first thing that popped out at me was the figures that are visible at the 1:47 mark. I wanted to get a source on that, and the data comes from a 2008 study by the Urban Institute (https://www.urban.org/research/publication/competitive-and-special-comp…) on who received SBA 7(a) and 504 financing and in what amounts. Women-owned businesses get 16% of the funding despite being 21% of the applications. The figures are for loans from 2001-2004, so the data on the lending gap is 17 years old at this point. I don't wish to disparage the information entirely, but while I trust the Urban Institute (as a highly credible source of information shaping the real estate industry, even though partisan from time to time), the data would optimally be less stale.
Less than 0.5% of the more than 5,000 American commercial banks are certified as women owned by the Comptroller of the Currency, so there are some real questions about representation considering that women are approximately half of the population. Credit availability is an issue too. It wasn't until 1974 that a woman was guaranteed the right to apply for a credit card independent of her husband. There can be lingering biases in who is "creditworthy" that are based on prejudice rather than sound underwriting.
In the grand scheme of things, I can't imagine women are being so discriminated against that a women's bank specializing in the "female economy" had to be established. Seems very gimmicky to me.
The CEO barely has any real world, professional banking experience. One of the main "advisors" is a retired lesbian tennis player from the 70's. Another is some D-list TV actress. Come on now...
Commercial banks can be incredibly niche (e.g. marijuana industry), so lending to women doesn't seem to be overly narrow from my view. This bank seems primarily focused on SBA products, and according to NerdWallet, for better or worse, (https://www.fundera.com/blog/gender-gap-in-funding) it appears that at least in 2019, things were fairly well balanced (similar loan amounts, similar credit scores, etc.). I'm not particularly inclined to judge the niche here, although I suspect that the 2001-2004 gap has largely closed.
I would vehemently reject that Ms. Markowitz "barely has any real world, professional banking experience" and am somewhat shocked that anyone would suggest that here. She has worked for CIBC's government lending division for over two years and spent 7 years at the SBA as first a Regional Administrator, then an Acting Administrator, overseeing over 3K employees and $90B worth of loan guarantees. If that doesn't constitute banking experience, then heaven help any of us if we try to start a commercial bank. She led the SBA.
Billie Jean King is primarily involved with the firm because she's an investor. That's her business. It's not like she's the brain trust or anything. She's an investor and they want the optics.
Honestly, we could talk about woke culture and that's all valid, but really the proximate cause is close to 2 decades of easy money policies. Not even post-COVID or post-2008, but really post-NASDAQ burst in 2001.
You could probably start a bank nowadays with something blatantly offensive and nominally a "cancelable" offense as their slogan, and you'd still probably get traction. My advice is make money while you can, and we'll probably have fun for 3-5 years or so, and then I just don't see any of this ending well.
Not to be nitpicky, but you seem to have the Urban Institute confused with the Urban Land Institute. ULI is the real estate development organization, but the Urban Institute is a DC think tank founded by Lyndon Johnson. Both deal with economic policy in a way, so not a bad mistake.
I have high regards for both, and I've properly distinguished them here. You'll notice that I called Urban Institute partisan at times (because it's more directly political). Thanks for your message, but there was no confusion.
They're going to crush this niche. So many girl bosses are going to use this bank.
I don't think there is anything specific to women that regular banks are missing in their services. However, I'm not a woman, so I have no idea.
I don't really buy the bias and discrimination angle, if there were actually evidence of that the lawsuits would come pouring in.
Entirely agreed. People are really missing the point - there's little that differentiates major commercial banks. This is a clear edge that will resonate with a significant number of people. Doubt this is the last we'll be seeing of female orientated banks.
I wonder if their branches/offices will have photo booths and picture walls for all of their girl boss employees and clientele
Clients do business with bankers they like, not institutions.
Would they get their nails and hair done by just anyone?
If this ever IPOs, it’s gonna be an insane pump and dump
Please... decipher.
I would short her company and buy put options and tell the same to peers so these misandrists can go fuck themselves
They will do great work for all but one week every month.
They will be the leading lender to new Lularoe #BossBabes
cringe
As a woman... this is super cringe.
bump
I'd hire them, since I'm assuming their fees are 76 cents on the dollar.
In fact we should have a PE buyout fund to replace male employees with female employees to reduce labor costs by 24%
when does non diversity recruiting start?
I hope for the sake of trolls that they pay above street. Otherwise it's gonna be a media sh*tshow.
Coming from a Fintech background it is strange to see how many challenger banks have a minority population spin to them. From women banks to Hispanic banks, I can understand what the proposed value is but rarely see it materialize. More often than not these startups say they are creating a bespoke banking experience for population ABC, and then use some random BaaS back-end with a UI featuring stereotypical color schemes and logos from said population. I’m not against this space, I just find the existing companies to be virtue signalling pieces of garbage lol
When there was a thread about women doing better than men in college even in fields like STEM, the culprits were AOC, female teachers, single moms, SJWs and some even suggested the west needed to collapse.
Now when there aren’t many women founders in banking, its “git gud”.
This website is not against affirmative action, they just want to be the beneficiaries of it
Can your brain not process more than one or two lines at a time?
Isn’t a woman’s bank kinda anti-feminist? Like you’re not pursuing equality, you’re excluding sexes from your potential employment pool and as a result limiting equal opportunities for all.
Since when was feminism about equality??? That's just what they say.
I pointing out the flaws in what they say.
If this becomes an initial public offering it's definitely going to pump and dump deeply.
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