I just found something out!!!

I see this information that the Community Bank of Lawndale (CBL) was bought in Crain's but unfortunately I don't own a subscription to that paper so I had to miss out. Then I found out thru the grapevine that this bank was purchased by Covenant Bancshares in August. I found out thru Crains ironically although it wasn't thru an article but looking at a list of 3rd quarter merger and acquisitions.

Let me give you a brief history lesson.

The CBL is located on the west side in an area that according to its website is underbanked or underserved by financial institutions. Think about it why should a bank serve an area that's poor. Not only that, the people in an area either won't put money in the bank or will not be able to pay back loans.

Anyway the bank was first organized in 1977. In 2003 the bank was bought by an Asian-owned bank called the International Bank of Chicago (IBC). I believe the story was that the CBL had a loan with this bank that they were unable to pay back. That means the bank became an asset and IBC bought them out to be sure to get some of their money back. According to the IBC website the acquistion was completed in December 2003.

Up until that time CBL was a black-owned bank since its inception but was previously under a holding company known as Sable Bancshares that owned the bank since 1996. Now that it's being bought out by Covenant Bancshares, the driving force is Bill Winston who is the pastor at the Living Word Christian Center in Forest Park, Illinois. The Covenant Bancshares was formed to either start a bank or to buy an existing one.

So now where there were once three black-owned banks there are now four. Before December 2003 there were four black-owned banks. These banks being Seaway National Bank, Highland Community Bank, and Illinois Service Federal.