California Bank & Trust Debuts Initiative Focused on Minority and Women-Owned Businesses

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

California Bank & Trust (CB&T) announced a new business financing initiative focused on minority and women-owned businesses in California at the LATINA Style Business Series on April 12, 2012. The bank's new TEAM initiative launches with a focus on Latina-owned businesses, although it also encompasses all minority-owned businesses in California. California Bank & Trust will debut TEAM, which represents “Tools, Education, Access and Mentoring,” in affiliation with Latina Style, Inc. and the Anna Maria Arias Foundation. This foundation works to ensure the growth, reach and impact of Latina entrepreneurs by providing programs, services and resources that help Latinas establish successful businesses.

The TEAM initiative strengthens California Bank & Trust's longstanding commitment to identify the unique economic needs of the communities served by the bank and to focus on meeting the needs of businesses through community-specific lending initiatives. California Bank & Trust also provides local decision-making, closer to the customer, which means that the bank understands the customer better and can respond faster. The TEAM initiative launched April 12 with a new website featuring videos, information and useful tools to help small business owners.

“TEAM is a comprehensive approach designed to address the issues faced by many minority and women business owners, especially access to financing,” says Betty Rengifo Uribe, California Bank & Trust Executive Vice President. “California Bank & Trust and Latina Style are working together toward a goal of helping Latina entrepreneurs gain access to the financing they need for their businesses to succeed; this mission directly addresses the greatest challenge for Latina business owners. With our network of highly experienced, professional bankers, we can provide expert guidance to minority and women business owners, giving them the help they need to grow, thrive and become a valuable part of their communities.”

“The most significant obstacle for growth for Latina entrepreneurs is the lack of adequate capitalization. For 14 years the Latina Style Business Series has been serving the Latina entrepreneur by providing the most successful business development program in the nation. Access to capital though has continued to be a challenge,” says Robert E. Bard, president & CEO of Latina Style, Inc. “We are ecstatic that California Bank & Trust has decided to make access to capital to minority-owned businesses a priority and this will surely benefit the Latina entrepreneur, California and our country. We look forward to our association with CB&T to produce incredible results.”

According to the latest U.S. Census data, Latina-owned businesses are the fastest growing segment of small businesses in the country and Latinas control 30 percent of the 1.4 million companies owned by minority women in the United States. Additionally, Hispanic-owned businesses in the U.S. increased by 43.7 percent to 2.3 million from 2002 to 2007, more than twice the overall national rate. In California, nearly 30 percent of all small businesses are women-owned, while nearly 15 percent are Latino-owned, according to the Small Business Administration. Differentiating her from other bankers, Ms. Uribe has owned and managed three businesses in Southern California and one in South America, and has employed an entrepreneurial vision in her work-life.

Norma Vega, Senior Advocacy and Consultant of Ibarra Strategy Group (ISG) co-chaired the Business Series with Uribe. Prior to her work with ISG, Norma served as Executive Director of the Office of the Census 2010 in the Office of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Norma developed a citywide educational and community outreach campaign that resulted in the highest Census mail participation of any comparable city.

About California Bank & Trust

California Bank & Trust, a subsidiary of Zions Bancorporation ZION, is one of the largest banks headquartered in California with over $10 billion in assets and more than 100 branches statewide. CB&T provides a full array of financial solutions for businesses and individuals, including commercial lending, small business lending, SBA financing, cash management, international banking and wealth management. The professional bankers at CB&T are backed by major resources, yet maintain local decision-making authority and regional market and industry expertise. They are committed to providing clients with valuable business and economic insights and to connecting them with the beneficial business relationships they need to succeed. To learn more, visit www.calbanktrust.com or call (800) 400-6080.

Media Please Note:

To schedule an interview with Betty Rengifo Uribe, or to request high-resolution photography or video, please contact Tarah Beaven at Landis Communications, Inc.: (415-359-2306; tarah@landispr.com) or Patricia Perez at VPE Public Relations (626-403-3200 X214; patricia@vpepr.com).

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50241010&lang=en