By AAKASH M. PATEL
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| NorthStar’s Personal Banker Vinita Mehra poses with Directors Paresh Patel, left, and Dr. Kiran C. Patel at the bank’s grand opening recently. Photo by Aakash Patel |
Exactly one year after filing with the Florida Office of Financial Regulation to become an official bank, NorthStar Bank opened its doors to the Tampa Bay community. More than 400 people attended the grand opening celebration held recently at the company’s first office and headquarters inside the cylindrical Rivergate Tower in downtown. While NorthStar is among a dozen startup banks to open in the area since 2005, it is unique because of its ties to the Indian community. Philanthropist Dr. Kiran Patel is the company’s largest individual shareholder and Paresh Patel (no relation) is one of the main organizers of NorthStar. Both are among the 10 founding Board of Directors.”We wanted a community bank owned by local investors for Tampa Bay businesses,” said Paresh Patel in an interview with Khaas Baat. “Marty Traber (also a Board member) and I first discussed the idea in 2004 at an Indo-US Chamber of Commerce meeting (www.indo-us.org) Tampa Bay has a vibrant business community especially amongst Indians, yet we are just a number to the big banks. Why not instead bank somewhere where you are valued as a customer? After much discussion with other community leaders, we felt that time for our opening was now.”In keeping with the community owned spirit the bank has over 100 individual shareholders from in an around Tampa Bay with over 25 percent being Indians. Investors in the bank include a variety of professions such as pharmacists, engineers, doctors and businessmen. According to Patel, NorthStar’s goal is to provide financial services for small to mid-sized businesses and their owners, executives and employees, as well as consumers in general. Aakash M. Patel is secretary of the Indo-US Chamber of Commerce Executive Committee and has been a Khaas Baat contributor since 2005. He can be reached at Aakash.M.Patel@gmail.com
