RockPoint Bank prepares to open
After raising more than $30 million in equity, organizers gain approval to launch in early 2021
The biggest new bank to start up in Chattanooga in more than 13 years expects to be open for business early next year after investors raised more than $30 million to capitalize the new bank.
The organizers of RockPoint Bank, National Association in Chattanooga announced Friday they have raised the required equity to launch the new bank after federal and state bank regulators gave preliminary approval for the new bank earlier this year. The coronavirus pandemic delayed the capital fundraising and pushed back the startup date, but RockPoint expects to open its initial branch in the 401 Building in downtown Chattanooga in the first quarter of 2021.
“The businesses in Chattanooga and the surrounding metro area are hungry for a local bank that offers personal attention and support for growth,” said
Harshad Shah, the founder of Hamilton Plastics and one of the bank organizers who led the equity raising efforts for RockPoint. “As the community navigates the pandemic, RockPoint is proud to emerge as a healthy new
bank to serve local businesses through this unprecedented time. Completing a successful capital raise in this environment is a testament to the confidence
our investors have in our leadership, business ethics and decades of successful business experience.”
Shah was previously involved in the last new startup bank in Chattanooga at CapitalMark, which launched in 2007 after raising $35 million in equity capital. The Nashville-based Pinnacle Bank later bought CapitalMark in 2015 for $187 million.
RockPoint Bank will be the first de novo bank to start anywhere in Tennessee in more than two years since Studio Bank in Nashville was launched in June 2018 after raising $46 million in equity capital.
Four veteran Chattanooga bankers have spent the past year organizing RockPoint, which derives its name from Creek Indian word for Chattanooga meaning “rock rising to a point.” Hamp Johnston, formerly market executive for JP Morgan Chase & Co, and a former manager at First Tennessee Bank, will serve as president and CEO of RockPoint Bank.
Johnston said the new bank will open with 20 to 25 employees and operate from two floors of the 401 Building at Chestnut and 4th Street in downtown Chattanooga where the bank has leased about 10,000 square feet of space. Johnson expects the bank to grow serving Chattanooga businesses with the staff and technology to compete in the market from its single location.
“Our strategy is branch light,” Johnston said. “We feel like we can serve our target market and take advantage of the opportunities here with this one branch for the foreseeable future.”
RockPoint will become the 28th commercial bank to operate in metropolitan Chattanooga. According to data compiled by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the existing 27 banks operating in the six- county Chattanooga market collectively had more than $ 12.1 billion in deposits as of June 30, 2020 and operated a total of 146 branch offices.
Most of the major banks in Chattanooga are either national or regional banks and RockPoint organizers insist there is a market for another locally based bank in Chattanooga. In Chattanooga, only Millennium and First Volunteer banks are locally owned and headquartered in Chattanooga.
“We are looking forward to building a bank that is focused on Chattanooga businesses and their needs,” said Camille Daniel, who is the proposed chief lending officer and will manage the bank’s business development efforts.