Ohio’s first woman-owned bank is about to open, and supporters say it’s another victory in the effort to ensure equal access to financial services across genders.

Organizers, who have already received conditional approval from state and federal regulators to form the proposed Fortuna Bank, completed a capital raise in July, raising more than $20.7 million. Top executive positions, including chief financial officer and chief credit officer, are being filled, and an office in Grandview Heights, Ohio, a suburb northwest of Columbus, is nearing completion.

Fortuna will be majority women-owned and operated and focused on helping women succeed, said President and CEO Ilaria Rawlins, a longtime Ohio banker who answered a call from her former client and Fortuna founder Lisa Berger to help launch the bank. An opening date has not yet been set, but Rawlins is aiming for an unofficial opening in late September.

Fortuna is one of several de novo banks proposed in the Columbus market in recent years, including the state’s first black bank, Adelphiwhich will open in Columbus in 2023.

“We know that the number of women-owned businesses is increasing. We know that women entrepreneurs are more likely than men to be denied business loans. We know that they tend to ask for less when they get loans. And we know that women are in a position to inherit significant wealth,” Rawlins said in an interview. “So we felt there was an opportunity to close those gaps.”

Once open, Fortuna will be part of a small group in the banking industry. Overall, there are only 18 women-owned banks in the United States, according to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. That number includes female CEOs who inherited banks from their families.

Fortuna’s creation comes amid increased efforts to create banks or affiliates that focus on the financial needs of women. The founders say Fortuna will be the third U.S. bank in three years to be specifically owned by women, meaning at least 51 percent of shareholders will be women.

In this category it ranks First women’s bank in Chicago to open in 2021And Agility Bank in Houston, which followed in 2022Like Fortuna, First Women’s and Agility were founded by women, but while First Women’s is led by a woman, Agility is now overseen by the bank’s former chief credit officer, Rodney Nabors, who took over as CEO after Lauren Sparks retired in November.

Spark, who was CEO for about one and a half yearssaid in a recent interview that her departure was the result of a change in direction sought by the board. In an email, an Agility spokesperson said Sparks left “as part of a strategic initiative to improve the bank’s performance and growth.”

The bank remains women-owned, as 66 percent of shareholders are women, the spokeswoman said. Sparks is still a shareholder, she said.

Other efforts to establish and run banks by women include BankMiami, a planned de novo project in Coral Gables, Florida, that is in capital raising modeand Impressia Bank, CNB Bank’s newest division in Clearfield, Pennsylvania, which will open in spring 2023.

BankMiami has a female founder, Mary Usategui, who will be president and CEO. Whether the company will be female-owned is unknown because it is still in the capital-raising phase, Usategui said.

The bank must raise at least $32.5 million before it can open its doors. It has received state and federal approval, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. gave the green light on Aug. 6, Usategui said.

Impressia, meanwhile, was designed to meet women’s “unique financial needs,” including access to capital, said President Mary Kate Loftus. Although the company is not women-owned, it is another example of providing banking services and other support tailored to women, Loftus said.

The department operates throughout CNB’s catchment area, which includes Columbus, Loftus said.

“Sometimes people ask, ‘Are you competing?’ and we’re not,” Loftus said. “We’re all trying to change the conversation so people understand that women need access (to capital) to close the gender gap in finance, and the more solutions there are, the better for everyone.”

Various statistics continue to show that women entrepreneurs and small business owners still face hurdles in accessing credit. Two-thirds of women-owned businesses do not have access to some or all of the capital they need, according to a 2024 report commissioned by Wells Fargo that looks at the impact of women-owned businesses on the economy.

In addition to cheaper childcare, increased availability of capital would also improve women’s ability to start and grow businesses, the report says.

One of the top priorities of the National Association of Women Business Owners is access to capital through financial education and digital tools, Dr. Janis Shinkawa, the organization’s national board chair, said in an email.

“Despite great progress over the years, access to capital remains one of the biggest hurdles for women trying to start, grow and expand their businesses,” Shinkawa said. “We fully support the opening of women-led banks in communities across the country because they are led by women entrepreneurs and provide opportunities for greater access and a more level playing field for all.”

Putting more capital in the hands of women is part of Fortuna’s mission, Rawlins said. Men tend to have larger networks, which helps them get the funds they need, she said. Women often don’t have connections to banks or anyone who can guide them through the loan process.

At Fortuna, a total of 340 shareholders raised more than $20.7 million, exceeding the minimum goal of $20 million, Rawlins said. Of those 340, more than 75 percent are women, including a large group of female entrepreneurs. The minimum investment amount is $10,000, Rawlins noted.

The increase attracted interest not only from individuals but also from companies such as Park National Bank in Newark, Ohio, and OhioHealth, a health care system that serves Columbus and central Ohio.

According to Fortuna’s pitch deck for potential investors, the bank’s organizers project that assets will grow to $155 million within three years of opening, along with $138 million in loans. They expect 42 percent of loans to be commercial real estate and 20 percent to be commercial and industrial loans. The majority of the expected deposit mix will be certificates of deposit, which make up 38 percent of the total balance, and non-interest-bearing deposits, which make up 29 percent of the balance, according to the pitch deck.

In terms of personnel, Fortuna is expected to have around 20 employees at the end of the third year.

Others in the industry are eagerly awaiting Fortuna’s opening day. Among them is Sparks, the founder of Agility, who says she remains optimistic about the future of women-owned banks even though she no longer runs a bank.

Sparks said she is an investor in Fortuna. She is a banking consultant by profession and co-founder and owner of Houston-based Third Party Resources, which specializes in risk management.

“For me and other women in financial services, this is a really positive step,” she said of Fortuna’s upcoming launch. “Women need to be in positions of power in financial services so that there is fairer access to capital. All we want is to be part of the financial fabric.”