James Wang’s Asian Bank is growing with Philly’s neighborhood businesses
The Chinatown-based lender, with branches in larger immigrant neighborhoods, has doubled in the past five years.
With a staff of 50, $550 million in property loans and other assets, and deposits, revenues, and profits that have doubled since 2020, Philadelphia’s Asian Bank has grown far beyond the storefront Chinatown headquarters it opened in 1999.
Besides its current, larger Arch Street headquarters, the bank has added branches in credit-hungry small-business districts on Race Street in Chinatown, Castor Avenue in Northeast Philly, and Passyunk Avenue in South Philly.
James Wang, the chief executive, spoke about the bank’s growth and business plan in an Inquirer interview. Questions and responses have been edited for clarity and brevity.
Who are your customers?
Our focus is on Main Street business owners, who may be too small to find banking elsewhere. The big banks do a good job, but they don’t reach everyone. Small-business owners, restaurants, bakers, nail salons, nonprofits in low- and moderate-income, underbanked communities.
They are diverse, and many of them are growing. For example, Bao & Bun, specializing in Taiwanese sandwiches, at Reading Terminal; Ninja Bao at 2 Penn Center, with another location Bao Button in Fishtown; Four Season Nail & Spa on South Ninth Street, operated by a Cambodian; Manaba Mini Market on Kensington Avenue, belonging to our client, a Dominican; A La Mousse, the dessert business here in Chinatown, operated by Jack and Anna Chen, serial entrepreneurs, who also own Bai Wei.
We underwrite every loan by hand. We believe that making the personal connection, getting to know business owners, we can better make judgment calls.
Does Philadelphia city government help small businesses?
We have a lot of contact with the city. The Philadelphia Business Lending Network makes grants to some of the small businesses with revenues under $250,000. A lot of our clients fit that profile. The grants make a difference.
We work with a lot of different groups. With the Dominican grocers, for example, we have a great relationship.
You do a lot of Small Business Administration-guaranteed loans. The SBA recently cut staff, reversed Obama-era preferences for underrepresented groups, and tightened loan guidelines. Have the changes affected your lending?
They are still updating the program. The structure hasn’t changed. You can’t predict what will happen with government programs. But they do have less staff now, and that may mean less service.
How are tariffs on imports from China, rising prices, and other trends affecting small businesses here?
The environment is challenging. A lot of construction materials costs have risen. Human capital is more expensive; salaries have gone up. Technology costs are up.
And recently there is less immigration. The universities are not able to bring in the students and staff as they did. This is an issue the city should be worried about.
You have branches in South Philly and the Northeast. Do you expect immigrant communities will remain in those neighborhoods into the next generation?
In the Northeast, we are hearing and seeing folks move farther out. At the same time, across the city we are seeing young people taking back their parents’ businesses, with a daughter using the knowledge they have gained and leveraging, for example, the father’s ability as a chef, to add new restaurants in the suburbs.
In South Philadelphia, we have the support of many communities, both the longtime residents and the immigrants.
What does Chinatown’s survival over a century tell us?
Chinatown shows how many people hold onto traditions even when they leave the neighborhood. I’m Chinese. It is good we can come here. And there are people that don’t feel they are ready to explore. They want to stay in the communities where they have been comfortable.
Chinatown is also a center of innovation. Bubble teas, new desserts, new products come out of the shops here before you see them everywhere.
Is Asian Bank large enough?
We need to continue to grow. [With more loans and deposits], our unit costs go down.
We feel we have the resources to service more customers. And I think we will need a few more branches before we fill up our brick-and-mortar footprint.
We have a digital strategy, of course. And there are still people who come in, they don’t need banking services, but they trust us. They bring us a bill and ask, “What does this mean? How do I handle it?” And our staff is talented. They help.