New Haven’s upcoming community bank now knows what to call itself: “Start.”
That’s the name for the local bank that’s been in the works for years and scheduled to open two branches this spring on Whalley Avenue and Grand Avenue.
The bank unveiled the new name and logo (pictured) Tuesday. The bank also unveiled a slogan: “On Your Block. In Your Corner.”
As it pursued regulatory approval to open, the bank has had a temporary name: First Community. Tuesday’s announcement follows months of title-searching.
Start Bank’s emergence will fill a gap. A Naugatuck-based bank is preparing to gobble the city’s last local community-owned lender, Bank of Southern Connecticut. A larger community bank, New Haven Savings, went public and merged with regional banks in 2004; as part of the approval for that deal, the bank’s successor, NewAlliance, contributed $25 million to enable a new not-for-profit entity, First City Fund Corporation, to create a new local community development bank focused on lending to city homeowners and small businesses. First City is launching that bank — Start Bank — as a subsidiary with $15 million.
In a release, bank CEO William Placke called the announcement of the new name and logo “a watershed moment.”
Mark Sklarz, president of First City, expounded in the same release on the slogan: “The leadership of this new bank will be right here in New Haven, neither out of state nor out of country, but right here on your block. We intend to serve our neighbors and small businesses on their path to the future as partners — to be in their corner.”
Great! A recognizable differentiating name and logo.