Just in time for Black Business Month, banking pioneer Walter L. Davis unpacks the landmark merger creating the nation’s largest Black-owned bank
By Angela Wilson
To catch you up, North Carolina’s oldest minority-owned financial institution, M&F Bank, is merging with Optus Financial Corp., the parent company of Columbia, South Carolina-based Optus Bank, the Charlotte Business Journal reported.
The deal, announced July 22, values M&F Bancorp—one of the most influential African American businesses in North Carolina in the 20th century and the second oldest Black-owned bank in the United States—at more than $105 million. Now merged with Optus, a historic, minority-owned financial institution founded in 1921 to focus on economic empowerment and closing wealth gaps, will hold $1.3 billion in assets.
Describing how the historic merger can enrich the Black community, Walter Davis, CertusBank’s former Chief Executive Officer who oversaw and developed the strategic direction that helped grow the organization into a $2 billion financial institution, said he is impressed with the historic feat.
Walter Davis On Building a Black-Owned Bank From Zero to $2 Billion
“More consolidation has been needed for a while because economies of scale are important. In order to be really profitable, you have to have those economies of scale these days in banking,” Davis told The Root.
For critics skeptical of massive corporate consolidation, the ultimate question isn’t just about balance sheets, it’s about impact. Davis didn’t shy away from the critical questions surrounding a merger of Black-owned banks of this magnitude. For example: Will building an industry titan genuinely bridge the wealth gap for the marginalized communities relying on them?
“Most of the customers they serve are Black customers today,” Davis explained. “The more profitable they are the better they can invest in systems and great people. All of those things will be a net positive for the businesses and consumers that bank with these folks.”
What sets this merger apart isn’t just its record-breaking scale, but it’s the fundamental difference in purpose. While traditional corporate giants like Chase and PNC have been accused of extracting wealth from local neighborhoods, this institution was built to re-invest it.
“Community banking is just the lifeblood of small business in this country. When you start talking about the big banks, I think it really bodes well for big business, capital markets, et cetera. However, there is a lot of room for community banks to continue to add to their suite of products and services for the small business, and for the consumer. This is much different,” Davis added, noting that with the community banking space “you can have more of a hands-on approach.”
Looking forward, The Root asked Davis how he’d measure the true success of this historic merger five to ten years down the road. But for the founding member of Peachtree Providence Partners, the proof won’t take a decade to show up—the real test is happening much sooner.
“In the next three to four years, my hope is that it’s an accretive merger, meaning that for what Optus paid, it becomes accretive for their shareholders in a short period of time that it’s profitable for them. I think that hopefully it’s foundational for them to continue to grow,” Davis said.
Aside from size, he noted how the merger will exceed expectations because “they’re able to service the customer and the community.” In order to do that tangibly, it comes down to the basics like lending, investments and more loans to businesses in order to scale.
“The effective change shows itself also in ATMs, branches, whatever the case may be, and being accessible to the community,” Davis continued. “Think about the mega banks—the Bank of America’s, the PNCs, et cetera— where the whole philosophy is a bank or service on every corner. And so here [with the merger], you won’t be able to accomplish all of that. But I think that there’s an opportunity for you to be able to have mobile banking. You’re able to have greater technology, and that is a service to the community and your clients you’re trying to serve there.”
Davis added that banks are a big part of the community. Black-owned banks have long stepped into the gap where traditional financial systems turned a blind eye, providing the foundational capital for homes, small businesses, and thriving communities. Pending final shareholder and regulatory approvals, the landmark merger is on track to officially close in the fourth quarter of 2026.
