Type Public Founded 1948 | Traded as NASDAQ: CARV | |
Industry Financial Services, Banking Headquarters 75 West 125th Street Harlem, New York, United States Key people Deborah C. Wright
(Chairman and CEO)
Michael T. Pugh
(President and COO) | ||
Carver Bancorp, Inc. is the holding company of Carver Federal Savings Bank ("Carver"), a federally chartered stock savings bank founded in 1948 to serve African-American communities whose residents, businesses, and institutions had limited access to mainstream financial services. Carver, the largest African-American and Caribbean-American managed bank in the United States, operates ten full-service branches and seventeen 24/7 ATM Centers in the New York City boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. Carver currently has over 60,000 retail and commercial accounts. It is a public company, and notable for being the only African-American operated bank on NASDAQ. Carver engages in a range of consumer and commercial banking services. It provides deposit products, including demand, savings and time deposits for consumers, businesses, governmental and quasi-governmental agencies in its local market area. It also offers consumer and commercial banking products and services, including debit cards, online banking, online bill pay, and telephone banking. The Bank offers loan products covering a variety of asset classes, including commercial, multi-family, new markets tax credit financing and business loans.
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History
Carver was named after agricultural researcher and scientist, George Washington Carver, and began its operations at 53 West 125th Street in 1948. Founders of the bank revered Mr. Carver, who used his immense talent to improve the economic status of his community, race, and all of mankind.
On November 5, 1948, Carver received a federal bank charter under the name of Carver Federal Savings and Loan Association. On January 5, 1949, it opened its first branch office in Harlem, New York at 53 West 125th Street. In February 1961, Carver opened a second branch in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn , New York. In June 1975, a third branch was opened in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York. In July 1982, Carver merged with Allied Federal Bank. Carver became a federal savings bank and changed its name to Carver Federal Savings Bank in 1986. Today, the Bank manages ten full-service branches and seventeen ATM Centers in Bedford Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, Flatbush, Fort Greene, Harlem, East Harlem, Jamaica and St. Albans.
Carver Bank & The Community
From its inception, the goal of Carver was to foster community growth by providing local residents a place to save and obtain mortgages to buy homes in their own communities. 100% of Carver's multi-family loans are within low-to-moderate income neighborhoods. Eighty percent of Carver's deposits are invested in the neighborhoods that it serves. Over the last two years Carver has provided sixteen million dollars in community development loans and two hundred million dollars overall. Carver provides free financial empowerment workshops and tax preparation services. Carver's strong devotion to community is represented in the company's slogan, "Building Wealth Block by Block." The logo of Carver Federal Savings Bank is represented by two conjoined "C"'s which is meant to express the nexus of Carver and the Communities in which they serve. Carver has been designated by the U.S. Treasury Department as a Community Development Financial Institution ("CDFI") because of Carver's community-focused banking services and dedication to the economic viability and revitalization of underserved neighborhoods. A measure of its progress in achieving this goal includes the Bank's most recent "Outstanding" Community Reinvestment Act rating.
Carver Federal Savings Bank Headquarters
Carver is headquartered at 75 West 125th Street in Harlem, New York.
Carver Rebuilds Headquarters
In October 1992, the bank's headquarters at 75 West 125th Street was destroyed by a fire which caused the bank to move one block away. In March 1996, Carver returned home to a newly constructed headquarters. The current building is a four-story, state-of-the-art symbol of the economic renaissance of the Harlem community.
Carver Goes Public
On October 24, 1994, following an Initial Public Offering, the bank became the first African-American operated bank listed on NASDAQ. Carver was listed on NASDAQ under the symbol "CARV". In 1996, Carver completed its reorganization into a holding company and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Carver Bancorp, Inc., a Delaware corporation. Each share of the Bank's common stock was exchanged for one share of the Bancorp common stock. On May 21, 1997, Carver listed its stock on the American Stock Exchange under the symbol "CNY". On July 2, 2007, NASDAQ approved the company's application to transfer its common stock listing from the American Stock Exchange back to NASDAQ under the ticker symbol "CARV". Carver began trading again on July 10, 2007.
Transition of Leadership
From 1948 to 1968, Carver was led by Joseph E. Davis, its first President and Chief Executive Officer ("CEO"). In 1970, Richard Greene was appointed President and CEO and led Carver for the next 25 years. In 1995, Thomas Clark Jr. was appointed director, President and CEO succeeding Richard Greene. In April 1999, Carver's Board of Directors appointed Deborah C. Wright as its first female President and CEO. She currently serves as Chairman and CEO.
Business and Branch Network
The bank takes deposits, which it principally lends in the form of mortgage loans for purchase or refinance of residential, and commercial properties, and for construction or renovation of commercial properties and residential housing developments.
As of June 2014, the bank operates ten full-service branches and seventeen stand-alone ATM centers in New York City. Carver has administrative offices in Harlem and Downtown Brooklyn. The company is headquartered in Harlem, New York.