NEW YORK -- A former governor of the Federal Reserve Board has joined the effort to re-establish a black, commercial, minority- controlled bank in the city.
Former Federal Reserve Board Governor Andrew Brimmer has joined forces with several city leaders who are trying to open a new minority- controlled bank in the city, said Harlem pastor Wyatt Tee Walker.
Walker, a former chairman of Freedom National Bank, has served as ad hoc chairman of the organizing effort that has been underway since early December when the bank was closed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
The FDIC closed the bank Nov. 9 after declaring it insolvent and has refused to reimburse fully non-profit depositors with accounts over $100,000.
'This is a major coup for us to have someone of Brimmer's stature to lend his skills and influence to our venture to provide a first-class banking facility in the minority community in New York City,' Walker said.
He credited Congressman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., with soliciting Brimmer for the job.
'We are ecstatic about Brimmer coming on board as a consultant and agreeing to serve on our advisory board once the bank is in place,' he said.
Brimmer, who is known and respected internationally throughout the financial world, also serves on the board of the Bank of America and the American Security Bank of Washington, D.C.
Also involved in the effort to re-open the bank are Sharnia Buford, former president of Freedom, 1976-86, and Eugene Jackson, of the National Black Network.
