The story
It began as a venture initiated by First Nations in Saskatchewan and was established in 1996 as a strategic alliance of the Saskatchewan Indian Equity Foundation, the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, now the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (a First Nations organisation), and TD Bank. The first branch opened in Saskatoon. A ceremony was held in Toronto in 1996 to celebrate the bank's launch.
The bank focuses on commercial customers in markets dominated by Indigenous peoples, including Indigenous businesses, Indigenous governments and organizations, and non-Indigenous businesses serving Indigenous markets.
The bank also has a growing volume of personal loans and mortgages primarily focused in its growing branch network of nine full service branches and eight community banking centres in markets with significant numbers of Indigenous peoples.
At the end of 2009, the First Nations Bank had lent $160.2 million, with assets totalling $266.5 million. The profit increased from 2008 to 2009 from 8,000 to 157,000 dollars. In 2010, the bank reported an income of $10.2 million.
The bank officially de-coupled from TD Bank in 2012. The two banks had entered into a seven-year partnership starting in 2007.
The bank is majority owned by 78 Indigenous shareholders that hold, in aggregate, over 80% ownership interest in the shares of the bank.
From Wikipedia’s article on First Nations Bank of Canada, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5