Texas’ only Black-owned bank is on the upswing again as it turns 60

Texas’ only Black-owned bank looks to invest further in technology and services after growing by about $100 million in assets since 2019.

When Kwame Nkrumah Cain became Unity National Bank’s general counsel in 2018, he knew the bank had to grow to survive. The 60-year-old Houston bank based in Third Ward was far from where it is today: It had $93 million in assets and lost $1.6 million that year. But Cain came aboard believing in Unity’s mission to serve community businesses and low- and moderate-income households. The bank is one of about 20 Black-owned banks nationally, according to 2023 FDIC data.

Unity scaled up with investments from larger banks, and it was propelled by $56 million in small-business loans as part of a federal pandemic-era program to save jobs. Unity’s profits have grown from $327,000 in 2020 to $2 million in 2021, $3.03 million in 2022, and $5 million last year. It has grown to over $200 million in assets.

“And that’s created the upward trajectory. We’re very profitable,” said Cain, who is also executive vice president, head of strategy. 

With its bottom line improving, Unity expanded training for employees, and enhanced services and technology. (Customers can now make mobile deposits, for example.) It also plans to invest more in small-business services and in efforts to attract younger customers.

“We celebrated 60 years last August,” Cain said. “We want to be here another 60 years.”

Unity is also borrowing best practices from larger banks, Cain said, and it is training under Citibank’s mentorship to provide financial services to the federal government in the future.

Founded in 1963 as Riverside National Bank and chartered in 1985, Unity National Bank has a branch in Missouri City and one that opened in Atlanta in 2018. Unity still has customers who opened accounts in the bank’s earliest days, said Cain, adding that it connects with them regularly.  

The big banks don’t have a board seat and are not majority shareholders, Cain said. The Lawal family has maintained majority ownership since 2005, with energy executive Kase Lawal as board chairman. Of its roughly 60 common shareholders, about 80% are African American, Cain said.

“For minority depository institutions and African American-owned institutions, it’s about scale, getting bigger, sustainability, and surviving in the 21st century,” Cain said. “The number of African American-owned banks have declined drastically, and the reason for that is scale and capital.”

(Updated March 1 at 12:30 p.m.) This story was updated to include the name of Unity National’s predecessor bank.