Houston City Controller Chris Hollins, representatives of local Asian American-owned bank branches and Southwest Management District board members today (March 5) discussed an initiative to establish city treasury accounts at the branches, enabling the banks to offer loans to qualified local businesses.
As Hollins explained, city government deposits its funds with banks that offer the highest qualified interest rates on such savings. The funds also provide the banks with capital they can lend in the hot-house economic development environment of the Southwest Management District.
The two-step initiative allows the city’s bank accounts to earn interest income for the municipal government while expanding loans originated in Houston to support the local economy.
The luncheon gathering — at Fung’s Kitchen restaurant in the Southwest Management District — included officers of Hanmi Bank, PromiseOneBank, Global One Bank, East West Bank, Golden Bank and Southwestern National Bank.
