Kiko Davis
Second African American woman in history to head the 12th largest Black-owned bank in the United States of America.
There are 21 African American owned banks with assets totaling approximately $4.7 billion or approximately 0.43 percent of African America’s $1.1 trillion in buying power. In 1994, there were 54 African American owned banks according to the FDIC.
Kiko is one of the few Black women in the nation that that can say they hold part ownership of a minority owned bank. Davis is now the majority stockholder of First Independence Bank headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. The Bank was owned by her late husband Don Davis, a native Detroiter, who also was three time Grammy Award-winning music producer and businessman for his own label, Groovesville Music, and the influential powerhouses of soul music, Detroit’s Motown and Memphis’ Stax Records . Don turned bank mogul and co-founded First Independence Bank in 1970 to serve the underserved commercial and mortgage lending needs of the area’s African-American community.
Davis became Chairman and CEO of the bank in 1980 — the only bank headquartered in Detroit and the only African-American owned bank in the state even at the time of his passing at the age of 75 in 2014.
Don Davis was an active member of the National Bankers Association, helping to improve regulations and policy. The National Bankers Association has taken their concerns about the challenges facing member banks to senior staff at the White House, to leaders in Congress – especially the chairman and ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee – the secretary of the Treasury, the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, the comptroller of the Currency and the chairman of the FDIC. The National Bankers Association works closely with the CDFI, allowing members’ banks to increase minority business lending; and has also collaborated with the Small Business Administration. He passed away in n 2014. Mrs. Kiko Davis now owns the bank (Barry Clay, CEO and Chairman) that Black Enterprise Magazine ranked as the 11th largest African-American owned bank.
Kiko and their three children have kept the legacy of her late husband who always uplift his entire community alive by creating the Don Davis Legacy Foundation. This foundation helps to assist entrepreneurs, individuals and community service organizations, through scholarships, grants and educational programs.
First Independence Bank moved its main branch and headquarters to 7310 Woodward Ave. in the New Center area on Monday, Aug. 15. The new branch is located in Suite 101 in the former location of the Detroit Police Department’s Central Office.
Two great leaders who have set a foundation to uplift not just in Detroit but throughout the nation.
Resource:
Grains New York
Black Enterprise Magazine
Associated press
BMI
Detroit Times
Grammy Achieves
Ebony
New York Times
Amsterdam News
Wall Street Journal
National Bankers Association
Public Records.