Cross River Bank

Cross River Bank was founded in 2008 [2] by French-born entrepreneur Gilles Gade as a community bank.[12] In 2010, Cross River entered into its first tech partnership.[13] As of 2020, Cross River counts more than a dozen lending partners, including Affirm, Rocketloans and Upstart.[14][15][16]

In 2019, Cross River received tax credits from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority to expand its operations, leading to the purchase of new office space in Fort Lee and a commitment to hire 250 new employees.[17][18]

The same year, Cross River announced the acquisition of Seed, a Portland, Oregon-based firm specializing in small business banking.[19] The deal included the retention of Seed employees and senior leadership and a plan for Cross River to maintain office space in Portland and San Francisco, expanding the firm’s small business banking and technology services and providing its first presence on the West Coast.[20]

The bank focuses on traditional community banking activities, including taking deposits and making loans, and technology services.[21] The bank originates loans for marketplace lenders and processes payments, and is known for its roster of clients in emerging fintech sectors.[22][23][24] As of 2020, the bank has assets of approximately $9.9 billion and maintains 300 employees at its branch office and corporate headquarters in New Jersey.[25][6][7] During the COVID-19 pandemic, the bank was one of the nation's top lenders under the CARES Act's Paycheck Protection Program, originating $6.5 billion in loans to more than 198,000 American small businesses, the third largest number of total loans by financial institution.[26][27]

Cross River has received investments from a number of notable private equity and venture capital firms. On November 1, 2016 Cross River Bank announced it had completed a $28 million growth-equity investment led by investment firm Battery Ventures, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz and Ribbit Capital.[25][28][29] Private equity firm KKR & Co. Inc. led a $100 million investment in the bank, including $75 million of its own capital, in 2018.[30][31] In 2020, the bank, through its parent company, issued $106 million in private placement subordinated bonds.[32]

In addition to its headquarters, the bank has a New York City office, a branch in Teaneck and ATMs in Brooklyn and Monsey, New York.

The bank offers direct lending and marketplace lending processed through different peer-to-peer lending portals,[33]

In October 2015, Cross River Bank announced a $100 million securitization with Marlette funding.[34][35]

In 2014, Cross River Bank collaborated with Ripple to offer instant payments between the U.S. and Western Europe.[36][37][38] In 2019, the bank announced that it was joining The Clearing House's real-time payments system.[39]

Cross River maintains partnerships with local elected officials and community-based organizations to provide charity and financial literacy services. In 2019, the bank started its Cross River Financial Literacy Initiative, working in collaboration with New Jersey-area public schools and members of the New Jersey Legislature.[40][41] In March, 2020, the bank announced that this initiative would partner with Operation HOPE, Inc. to provide virtual financial literacy programming in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[42][43]