TORONTO
The Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation has invested $15 million in the First Nations Bank of Canada, becoming one of its largest shareholders.
The investment gives the nation a roughly 10 percent ownership stake in the bank, the only Indigenous-owned chartered bank in Canada.
It also marks the completion of a $50 million capital raise, the bank announced Wednesday.
"With the addition of Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation as a major shareholder, that founding vision is stronger than ever," Bill Lomax, president and CEO of the bank, said in a news release.
The bank said the new capital will expand its lending capacity and help it pursue opportunities in Indigenous business, infrastructure and economic development.
Lomax said the funding round will allow the bank to issue "at least" $400 million in new commercial loans.
"Given the amount of growth that we have, I wouldn't be surprised if, within the next three years, we are back out raising our next tranche," Lomax said in an interview with The Globe and Mail.
"There is just going to be more and more demand for what we are doing."
The bank's commercial loan book grew 26 percent in its most recent fiscal year and nearly 20 percent the year before that.
Lomax said one challenge for the team has been keeping up with loan demand, as 26 percent growth is already breakneck speed for the bank.
He said the bank has almost doubled its capability to make loans over the past three years, from about $17 million or $18 million to now up to $30 million.
The new capital will also allow the bank to consider entering new lines of business, including wealth management.
"We are going to be, over the next year, doing some soul searching to figure out what is the right next step. And wealth management is absolutely very high on that list," Lomax said.
He declined to specify other opportunities under consideration, saying they are too early-stage to discuss publicly.
Following the investment, the Saskatoon-based bank is now owned by 117 First Nations and Indigenous communities across Canada.
Toronto-Dominion Bank remains the bank's primary non-Indigenous investor.
"By becoming a major shareholder in First Nations Bank of Canada, we are investing in an opportunity to build long-term wealth for our community with a partner who understands our needs and aspirations," Chief Margaret Sault of Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation said in the release.
"Meaningful participation in the Canadian economy includes having ownership in the institutions that help drive and shape its future."
First Nations Bank of Canada operates 22 branches and service centres and manages more than $1.6 billion in assets.
Its trust subsidiary, FNB Trust, has $5.57 billion in assets under administration.
This story was written by the e2gold.ca newsroom from reporting by BNN Bloomberg, The Globe and Mail and The Turtle Island News. Quotes are checked word for word against that reporting.