Cross River Bank

Cross River Bank
Company typePrivate
IndustryBanking
Financial services
Financial technology[1]
Founded2008[2]
HeadquartersFort Lee, New Jersey, U.S.
Key people
  • Gilles Gade: CEO[3]
  • Arlen Gelbard: EVP, General Counsel
  • Phil Goldfeder: SVP, Public Affairs[4]
  • Phillip Riese: Board Director
  • Scott Tobin: Board Director
ProductsConsumer banking
Commercial banking
Community banking
Digital banking
BaaS[5]
Peer-to-peer lending
Total assetsIncrease $9.9 billion (Nov. 2020)[6]
Number of employees
500 (2021) [7]
Websitewww.crossriver.com

Cross River is an American financial services organization[8] that provides technology infrastructure to fintech[9] and technology companies.[10] Based in Fort Lee, New Jersey, Cross River services its clients with embedded payments,[9] cards, lending,[11][12] and cryptocurrency,[13] and is an FDIC member.[14] Cross River is noted for its embrace of the trend in the financial services sector towards API-based payment platform services.[15][16][17]

History

[edit]

Cross River Bank was founded in 2008[2] by French-born entrepreneur Gilles Gade as a community bank.[18] In 2010, Cross River entered into its first tech partnership.[19] In October 2015, Cross River Bank announced a $100 million securitization with Marlette funding.[20][21] As of 2020, Cross River counts more than a dozen lending partners including Affirm, Rocketloans and Upstart.[22][23][24]

In 2019, Cross River received a Grow NJ grant from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) to expand its operations, leading to the purchase of new office space in Fort Lee and a commitment to hire 250 new employees.[25][26]

The same year, Cross River announced the acquisition of Seed, a Portland, Oregon-based firm specializing in small business banking.[27]

Cross River headquarters

The deal included the retention of Seed employees and senior leadership and a plan for Cross River to maintain office space in Portland and San Francisco, expanding the firm's small business banking and technology services and providing its first presence on the West Coast.[28]

Cross River officially opened its new corporate headquarters in April 2021. The 70,000 square-foot building in Fort Lee, acquired with the assistance of the 2019 Grow NJ grant, was anticipated to accommodate the firm’s expanding workforce, which by this point had increased to some 500 employees.[29][7] At the grand opening ceremony, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy credited Cross River’s continued presence in the state with helping “bring [New Jersey] once again to the forefront of the innovation economy.”[30]

In April 2023, the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg reported that the FDIC sent the bank a cease-and-desist order due to what the regulator characterized as "unsafe or unsound banking practices".[31][32]

Operations

[edit]

The bank focuses on traditional community banking activities, including taking deposits and making loans, and technology services.[33] The bank originates loans for marketplace lenders and processes payments, and is known for its roster of clients in emerging fintech sectors.[34][35][36] As of 2020, the bank has assets of approximately $9.9 billion and maintains 300 employees at its branch office and corporate headquarters in New Jersey.[37][6][38] During the COVID-19 pandemic, the bank was one of the nation's top lenders under the CARES Act's Paycheck Protection Program, originating $6.5 billion in loans to more than 198,000 American small businesses, the third largest number of total loans by a financial institution.[39][40]

Cross River has received investments from a number of notable private equity and venture capital firms. On November 1, 2016 Cross River Bank announced it had completed a $28 million growth-equity investment led by investment firm Battery Ventures, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz and Ribbit Capital.[37][41][42] Private equity firm KKR & Co. Inc. led a $100 million investment in the bank, including $75 million of its own capital, in 2018.[43][44] In 2020, the bank, through its parent company, issued $106 million in private placement subordinated bonds.[45]

In 2021, Cross River established a venture capital arm, Cross River Digital Ventures, to invest in start-ups operating in sectors including lending, payments, investing and fintech.[46]

Services

[edit]

Cross River offers a number of banking-as-a-service products.[47] In 2019, the bank announced that it was joining The Clearing House's real-time payments system,[48] as well as partnering with Stripe.[49] Cross River also offers marketplace lending services such as compliance, payments, credit and underwriting, and balance sheet capacity.[50] Cross River partners with Coinbase to provide cryptocurrency,[51] and has developed APIs to facilitate cryptocurrency transactions.[52]

In addition to its headquarters, Cross River has a branch in Teaneck, New Jersey.[39]

Public relations

[edit]

Cross River maintains partnerships with local elected officials and community-based organizations to provide charity and financial literacy services. In 2019, the bank started its Cross River Financial Literacy Initiative, working in collaboration with New Jersey-area public schools and members of the New Jersey Legislature.[53][54] In March 2020, the bank announced that this initiative would partner with Operation HOPE, Inc. to provide virtual financial literacy programming in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[55][56]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Nair, V. (12 January 2018) "How Banking-as-a-Platform Propels Cross River Bank". Knlowledge @ Wharton. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Company Overview of Cross River Bank, Inc". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  3. ^ Scully, Matt (24 February 2015). "How Bank Partnerships with Marketplace Loan Platforms Really Work". American Banker. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
  4. ^ McDonough, A. (27 January 2020)"Talking FinTech with Cross River Bank's Phil Goldfeder". City & State. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  5. ^ Macri, Kate Patrick (2020-02-28). "Fintech focuses on small businesses, ramping up competition with big banks". Banking Dive. Retrieved 2020-11-25.
  6. ^ a b Institution Directory Search "FDIC Details and Financials, "Cross River"". Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  7. ^ a b Bergeron, Tom (2021-04-30). "Cross River stakes claim to N.J. with new HQ in Fort Lee". roi-nj.com. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  8. ^ "Cross River Bank".
  9. ^ a b "Cross River Launches Venture Capital Arm to Propel the Next Generation of Fintech Startups". Yahoo! Finance. June 15, 2021.
  10. ^ Tan, Gillian (July 8, 2021). "Cross River Said to Eye $2.5 Billion Evaluation In New Round". Bloomberg News.
  11. ^ Cardoza, Edlyn (February 25, 2022). "Cross River and Sunstone Credit Announce Partnership".
  12. ^ Penn, David (February 3, 2022). "Cross River Teams Up with Paytile to Offer Location-Based Payment Solutions".
  13. ^ "Cross River Expands Crypto Services with Chainalysis". 24 March 2022.[permanent dead link]
  14. ^ "Company Overview of Cross River Bank, Inc". Bloomberg News. 23 November 2015.
  15. ^ Streeter, Bill (2020-08-24). "How Today's Community Bank Becomes a Digital Deposit & Loan Machine". The Financial Brand. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
  16. ^ Leff, Meir (2019-08-06). "BaaS Company Spotlight 6/8: Cross River — A Regional Bank Providing Specialized BaaS Services". Tearsheet. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
  17. ^ Muslimi, Mehran (2020-06-23). "Are banking APIs the real revolution?". Medium. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
  18. ^ Batallas, Tanya (28 July 2009). "French-born Gilles Gade finds home at the Cross River Bank in Teaneck". NJ.com. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  19. ^ Schoenberg, Gregg (2019-03-01). "Mitzvah-minded unicorn Cross River is on holy mission to foster bank-fintech harmony". Tech Crunch. Retrieved 2020-12-10.
  20. ^ Lichtenwald, Ryan (2 October 2015). "Cross River Bank and Marlette Funding Close $100 Million Securitization Transaction". Lend Academy.
  21. ^ Guzzio, Alison (28 January 2015). "Marlette Funding Brings Best Egg Personal Loans to the General Public" (Press release). Wilmington, Del.: Businesswire. Retrieved 2021-01-01.
  22. ^ Chatenay, Victor (2020-11-09). "Alt lender Upstart is filing for an IPO after seeing successful growth". Business Insider. Retrieved 2020-12-10.
  23. ^ Affirm Holdings, Inc. (2020), Form S-1, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, p. 11, retrieved 2020-12-10
  24. ^ Kassel, Matthew (2020-07-16). "How a small New Jersey bank cornered the fintech and e-commerce markets". Jewish Insider. Retrieved 2020-12-10.
  25. ^ Pries, Allison (2019-03-08). "Tech bank expanding in N.J., hiring for 250 jobs". NJ.com. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  26. ^ "Cross River Brings Innovative Approach and 255 New Jobs to Fort Lee" (Press release). Trenton, N.J.: New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA). 2019-03-07. Retrieved 2020-12-21.
  27. ^ Irrera, Anna (2019-06-24). "Cross River Bank acquires small business banking company Seed". Reuters. Retrieved 2021-01-01.[dead link]
  28. ^ Spencer, Malia (2019-06-25). "Portland small business banking startup sold to Cross River Bank". Portland Business Journal. Retrieved 2021-01-09.
  29. ^ Jordan, John (2019-05-14). "Cross River Bank Stays in New Jersey with Fort Lee Office Deal". GlobeSt.com. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  30. ^ "Cross River Opens New Headquarters in Fort Lee". NJB Magazine. 2021-04-30. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  31. ^ Yang, Yueqi; Smith, Paige (28 April 2023). "Cross River Bank Receives FDIC Enforcement Order Over Lending". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  32. ^ Osipovich, Alexander (28 April 2023). "Crypto-Friendly Lender Cross River Bank Criticized by FDIC". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  33. ^ Cross, Miriam (2020-09-22). "How cross river bank gathered 250 million in deposits in 15 days". American Banker. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  34. ^ Rooney, K. (19 February 2020) "Small banks you've never heard of are quietly enabling the tech takeover of the financial industry". CNBC. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  35. ^ Weinstein, M. (17 October 2019) "Cross River Marries Community Banking with Cutting-edge Fintech, Exec Says at Propelify". NJ Tech Weekly. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  36. ^ Zuluaga, D. (22 June 2020) "Paycheck Protection Program: Who Lent to Whom, and Where?". Cato Institute. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  37. ^ a b Demos, Telis (1 November 2016). "Venture Capitalists Get Radical and Invest in a...Bank". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2021-01-01.
  38. ^ Perry, J. (19 March 2020). "Cross River invests in employee, consumer initiatives amid COVID-19". NJBIZ.com. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  39. ^ a b Conley, S. (23 June 2020) "The Tiny Bank That Got Pandemic Aid to 100,000 Small Businesses". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  40. ^ Small Business Administration (2020-08-08). Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Report (PDF) (Report). p. 7. Retrieved 2020-09-24. {{cite report}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  41. ^ "Why Giants of Silicon Valley Invested in a Community Bank". American Banker. 1 November 2016.
  42. ^ Mannes, John (1 November 2016). "Cross River Bank Gets Unconventional Validation". TechCrunch.
  43. ^ Irrera, Anna (2018-12-06). "KKR leads $100 million investment round in Cross River Bank". Reuters. Retrieved 2020-09-11.
  44. ^ "KKR Leads $100 Million Financing for Cross River Bank". The Wall Street Journal. 2018-12-06. Retrieved 2020-09-11.
  45. ^ Visconti (2020-08-20). "Cross River Bank's $106 Million Private Placement". Global Legal Chronicle.
  46. ^ Cross, Miriam (2021-06-17). "Cross River Bank forms venture capital arm to invest in startups". American Banker. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
  47. ^ Leff, Meir (2019-08-06). "Baas Company Spotlight 6/8: Cross River — A Regional Bank Providing Specialized BaaS Services". Archived from the original on 2020-06-25. Retrieved 2022-03-01. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  48. ^ Hernandez, W. (20 September 2019) "Cross River makes jump to real-time payments. Will other small banks follow?". American Banker. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  49. ^ Stone, Rachel (2019-01-09). "Stripe, Cross River to launch real-time wage payments to gig economy workers".
  50. ^ Nair, Vinay (2018-01-12). "How Banking-as-a-Platform Propels Cross River Bank".
  51. ^ Abdel-Qader, Aziz (2018-12-09). "Analysis: Crypto Business Triples Profits of Two US Banks in 2018".
  52. ^ "Cross River Bank Payments REST API".
  53. ^ Assembly Member Clinton Calabrese Press Release "Assemblyman Clinton Calabrese and Cross River Partner to Bring Financial Literacy to Classroom". New Jersey Office of Legislative Services. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  54. ^ Villanova, P. (07 May, 2019) "McKnight caps month's worth of financial literacy events". NJ.com. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  55. ^ (30 March 2020) "Cross River Partners with Operation HOPE and the Community to Provide Virtual Financial Literacy Resources". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  56. ^ Bader, E. (31 March 2020) "Cross River partners with Operation HOPE to provide free financial literacy programming". roi-nj.com. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
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