Microlending bank Grameen America has applied for a federal credit union charter for a potential debut in North Carolina.
Since meeting with credit union and bank representatives along with regulators and trade groups in North Carolina twice in February, Grameen America has applied for a federal credit union charter and is in the midst of raising the $2 million it will need to set up an affiliate, said Vidar Jorgensen, president of the microlending bank.
Grameen America has set its sites on establishing a presence in Fayetteville, N.C. In late February, Jorgensen and others met with officials from the Fayetteville-Cumberland County Chamber of Commerce and the Fayetteville State University Center for Entrepreneurship to coordinate fundraising efforts. Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham are other North Carolina cities the bank is hoping to set up shop, he added.
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Jorgensen said the goal is to raise $2 million, which is set to come in the form of grants, loans and later, deposits, to provide the seed money needed to operate during the financial institution's first two years. Once that amount is raised and pending a charter approval, Grameen America can start issuing loans, he said.
The Queens, N.Y.-based Grameen America is a subsidiary of Grameen Bank, a Bangladesh microlending organization founded in 1983 by professor and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus.
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