Houston-based Gulf Capital Bank recently completed a capital raise of $93 million. With the funding, the bank plans to invest in its digital capabilities, providing services that include mobile deposits, secured and unsecured commercial loans, letters of credit and consumer loans.

Bank CEO Ed Jones wants Gulf Capital to model community banking relationships, in which “all the bankers knew your name and they could get things done.” He said the focus will be the connection with the customer, and digital capabilities will be used to boost the bank-to-customer relationship.

“What people ask from their banks know, it’s a lot more complicated,” Jones said. “But there’s a much stronger requirement to know who your customers are and what they’re doing. With all this integrated software, we can have that information at our fingertips when we’re contacting clients and prospects.”

By focusing on interpersonal relationships, while employing a tech-forward approach unburdened by legacy infrastructure, Gulf Capital wants to differentiate itself from competitors.

Big banks often have issues meeting needs for small- to medium-sized businesses, which puts Gulf Capital in a unique position to attract and retain this segment of the market. A 2019 study from Forrester Research outlined how banks that successfully work with such customers must have a digital and human approach, which Gulf Capital will reportedly be using to engage its customer base.

Jones wants the institution to focus on a local middle-market business customer base with revenues of up to $2 billion. Building a new bank from scratch was possible thanks to a partnership with legacy core provider Fiserv, through which Gulf Capital will be able to offer digital products and services such as online and digital banking, peer-to-peer payments through Zelle and mobile deposits.

Jones explained that using Fiserv’s software allows the bank to lessen friction for customers who need help finding a service or specific department at the bank.

See also: Gulf Capital, a ‘de novo’ bank, to launch without legacy tech

“By loading all the customer information, and having it populate all of our different product capabilities [the bank employee doesn’t] have to ask you name, rank, serial number — it’s already in there,” he said. “All I have to ask you is, ‘What do you need and when you need it?’”

And though Jones wants customers to explore Gulf Capital’s online services, he and the rest of the bank’s team also hope they notice the effort put into tailoring their services to serve the needs of both the community and local businesses.

Despite being a de novo bank, meaning it is newly chartered bank that was not acquired through the purchase of a larger bank, Gulf Capital Bank expressed confidence in its capabilities to create solutions for customers, despite the lack of backing from a larger financial institution.

“With the opening of Houston’s first de novo bank in more than a decade, Gulf Capital Bank will be able to do banking the way it was always meant to be done: with personal relationships at the center of everything we do, and our customers’ goals at the top of our mind,” said bank President Jonathan Homeyer in a statement. “We are able to bring Houston companies big-bank products and services, in a more personal platform.”

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