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American Financial Exchange (AFX), an electronic exchange for direct lending and borrowing for American financial institutions, announced today that Abacus Federal Savings Bank joined the Exchange, the first minority-owned and Asian-American depository institution in the Northeast to do so. The story of Abacus was the subject of a 2016 Academy-award nominated documentary.
Other minority-owned banks which are members of AFX include Los Angeles-based Bank of Hope and Pacific City Bank (Asian-American); and Lone Star National Bank of Texas and FirstBank of Puerto Rico (Hispanic).
Volumes increased from a daily average of $356 million in the first quarter of 2018 to $1,431 billion by February 28, 2019 – a 300% growth. The number of members increased from 83 at the end of the first quarter 2018 to 134 by February 28, 2019, a sixty-one percent increase. Current AFX Membership is comprised of 113 banks and 21 non-banks with a presence in 49 states and Puerto Rico.
AFX membership also includes non-banks such as insurance companies, broker-dealers, private equity firms, corporations, hedge funds and money managers. Current AFX markets are overnight unsecured loans, 7-day secured loans, a deposits product, and a correspondent loan market. There are 557 banks in the correspondent bank lending program, bringing the total of AFX members to 691 institutions.
AFX facilitates the determination of AMERIBOR®, a transaction-based interest rate benchmark. The rate is calculated as the weighted average daily volume in the AFX overnight unsecured loan market. ServisFirst Bank in Birmingham, Alabama and Brookline Bank in Boston, Massachusetts are the first banks to index commercial loans to AMERIBOR®. Others AFX Members are also in the process of using AMERIBOR® to benchmark new issuance assets. AMERIBOR® enables banks and financial institutions to optimize asset-liability management by matching assets and liabilities through the benchmark AMERIBOR®. The rate is now available on Bloomberg terminals under the ticker symbol AMBOR.
Jill Sung, president and CEO of Abacus said, “Abacus Bank’s mission is to help the people and communities we serve reach their financial goals. We are proud to join hundreds of community banks on the AFX platform, which will support us in fulfilling this promise to our customers and foster economic growth at the local level.”
Dr. Richard Sandor, founder and CEO of the AFX said, “We are honored and privileged to welcome Abacus Federal Savings Bank to the AFX family. Their story highlights the importance that these institutions have in job creation and in helping to maintain strong communities. A transaction-based rate such as AMERIBOR® can be an important tool to regional, mid-sized and community banks space as they perform their important social and economic function.”
