CONCORD, N.H.-–The first mutual bank to get a state charter in a century in New Hampshire is now making loans as it gets one step closer to fully opening.
The full opening may be delayed by “financial turmoil” in the markets, however, according to the Concord Monitor.
“Market conditions have obviously changed quite a bit in the last six months,” Charley Cummings, a founder of Walden Mutual Bank, which designed to serve the New York and New England agriculture market, told the publication.
Walden Mutual has received a conditional charter from the state Banking Department, the first mutual bank to do so in a century, the Concord Monitor reported. Cummings was quoted as saying it will probably open in late summer once final approval comes from the FDIC, which will make Walden Mutual the country’s first new mutual bank since 1973.
Walden Mutual has already made some loans from initial capital and in partnership with other banks. It continues to raise funds toward a $25 million goal and has “a decent amount of commitments” from members and investors, Cummings told the Concord Monitor.
Once open, probably in late summer, Walden Mutual will take consumer deposits and do commercial lending, the report stated.
Similar to Credit Unions
“Mutual banks are similar to credit unions in that they are owned by members rather than investors, the biggest difference being that banks can offer FDIC-insured accounts,” according to the Concord Monitor.
The publication added that Cummings is best known for founding Walden Local in Massachusetts in 2013 to deliver beef and other local farm products to tens of thousands of homes between New Jersey and Maine, a “business that he says made him realize that the types of loans and financial help given by existing banks didn’t always serve small farms.”
Cummings told the Concord Monitor the mutual bank route was taken because it worked with Walden Mutual’s focus on the local “agriculture ecosystem,” since control by members who are themselves in the agriculture industry makes it easier to do such things as adjust loan payments to fit harvesting patterns.
Cummings said Walden Mutual planned to “lend to the local food ecosystem — the entire value chain.” Not just farms but “we’ll lend to distributors, consumer brands, trade brands, companies ancillary to food like solar development that uses marginal farm land.”
7,500 on Waitlist
Cummings said the bank has “about 7,500 people on the waitlist to become depositors.
“We’re asking them to participate in financing at a minimum of $5,000 alongside many who are writing larger checks as well,” he said.
As CUToday.info reported here, a credit union with a similar mission—Maine Harvest FCU--was chartered in 2019.
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