KeyBank pursuing Native American banking

UTICA - KeyBank has launched a national strategy aimed at increasing its share of Native American business. The $86 billion-asset bank's "Native American Financial Services Strategy" will target Native American-owned business in 13 states, including New York.

The bank and its related companies

currently serve 45 Native American entities ranging from tribal governments to nation-owned businesses. Key has a total credit commitment of $414 million to its current Native American customers. Those customers include Oneida Indian Nation and the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe. Key provides several financial services to several St. Regis Mohawk businesses including the tribe's Akwesasne Mohawk Casino, located near Massena.

Of 562 federally recognized Indian Nations, 302 are located within Key's retail footprint, says Michael Lettig, Native American Financial Services national executive for KeyBank. Lettig will run the program from his office in Bellevue, Wash.

While the focus on Native American business is new, KeyBank's relationship with their governments and businesses is not new, says Lettig. KeyBank has served the Native American market since 1970, he adds. The St. Regis Mohawk Tribe has been a KeyBank customer for two decades. The bank financed the building of the Mohawk tribal community center as well as a residential home for the disabled.

Two regional managers, one in the East, and one in the West, will assist Lettig in coordinating the Native American business for the bank. The bank has yet to fill the East position, which covers New York, Maine, Wisconsin, Michigan, Connecticut, and Minnesota. The strategy also focuses on Native Americanowned businesses in California, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Arizona, and New Mexico. Key is seeking banking executives with Native American backgrounds to help implement its new strategy nationwide.

Key faces several competitors in its pursuit of this business, says Lettig. Big banks such as Bank of America and Wells Fargo also focus on serving Native American customers. There are also small Indian-owned banks such as Denver-based Native American Bank, with $45 million in assets, catering to the Native American population.

Approximately three million Americans identify themselves as Native Americans, according to the United States Census Bureau.

While successful casinos such as the Oneida Nation's Turning Stone Casino Resort have created the impression that gambling is the only Native American enterprise, many nations have nothing to do with casinos. Alaskan tribes, says Lettig, don't have any casinos but still need the range of financial services that KeyBank can offer. For example, Key recently provided a $2 million loan to build 10 new homes for the Asa' casarmiut Tribe of Mountain Village Alaska.

In addition to serving the nations themselves, Key hopes to expand its financial services to tribal businesses. Several Indian nations operate corporations that process natural resources such as trees into commercial products. Even Indian nations that reject gambling casinos on religious grounds, such as the Onondaga, operate nation-owned companies. The Onondaga Nation annually sells millions of dollars worth of tobacco products.

Doing business with Native American nations and businesses, Lettig explains, requires - a thorough understanding and respect for their culture. Each tribe or nation's culture, he adds, is distinct. Tapping this market also requires patience and relationship building.

After serving the nations and businesses, KeyBank's goal is to increase the rate of single-family home ownership for its Native American customer base.

"The economic opportunities in Native America are just beginning to unfold," says Lettig.