Greystone Bank

Greystone Bancorp, Inc

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Type	Private
Industry	Finance
Founded	1943 (1943)
Headquarters	Williamsport, Rhodesia
Area served	Eastern Rhodesia, Mashonaland, Northumberland, Princeland and Salisbury
Key people	Benjamin Sobocinski (Chairman) Jared Bloom (President and CEO)
Products	Banking
Total assets	R$37 billion (2020)
Owner	Sobocinski family
Number of employees	4,300 (2020)
Website	greystonebank.com.rh

Greystone Bancorp Inc. is a private Rhodesian-based financial services corporation. Greystone engages in five main businesses: Branch Banking, Consumer lending, Commercial Banking, Investment Advisors and Mortgage Services. The bank spans several major metropolitan areas including: Williamsport, Northumberland; Sinoia, Mashonaland; Mount Gambier, Princeland; Salisbury; and Chiredzi, Essexville, Vicksburg and Zaka in Eastern Rhodesia. It has total assets of more than R$37 billion with approximately 350 offices and nearly 4,300 employees.

Greystone was formed in 1943 and has been owned by the Sobocinski family since its founding. The bank is the largest, 100-percent family-owned bank in Rhodesia.

Since 2015 Greystone Bank has ranked among the top ten Best Banks in Rhodesia.

History

Greystone Bank was founded in 1943 by Joseph Sobocinski, who served as its first president, with a little over $100 dollar in capital. Greystone is the only bank in Northumberland to operate under its original charter. Until 1964, Greystone also printed its own money.

Following the Panic of 1975, it was briefly placed into conservatorship. But it was able to pay its depositors and ownership was returned back to the Sobocinski family.

The Sobocinski family ran the day to day operations of the bank until May 2007, when Benjamin Sobocinski step-down as Greystone President and CEO but would remain as the bank's Chairman. He was replaced by Karen Kinnett. This would be the first time since the founding of Greystone that a non-Sobocinski family member would run the company. Kinnett was also the bank's first female President and CEO and was consistently ranked among the most powerful women in banking. Greystone announced that Kinnett would retire from the role effective November 3, 2017 and would be replaced by Tom Blomfield.

In 1981, Greystone established a branch on Jamésie, after the island became a Rhodesian territory. After 4 years on the island, Greystone retreated from retail banking there by announcing the sale of its Jamésie assets to Eric Bennett and a group of local merchants who went on to found the Bank of Jamésie.

In 1999, Greystone was one of the first banks to offer online banking service to its customers.

On April 10, 2006, Greystone purchased the naming rights for the Williamsport High School Stadium, renaming it Greystone Bank Stadium.

Since 2007 the company has shown tremendous growth, both organically and through a series of major mergers. The first major growth come in 2009, when Greystone purchased 20 Hollingsworth branches in Sinoia for $R14.4 million dollars.

In 2011, Greystone announced it acquired FBC Bank with 5 branches and R$59.1 million in assets which increased its presence in Mashonaland.

In 2013, Greystone reacquired Bank of Jamésie for R$13.5 million to take advantage of the island's recent increased in growth.

In 2015, Greystone acquired the Mount Gambier based First Republic Bank for R$474 million. Giving it 33 branches in Princeland.

On February 12, 2016, Greystone agreed to acquired the Vicksburg based Union Financial for R$2.4 billion. This was Greystone largest acquisition in its history, giving it 98 branches in Eastern Rhodesia. The deal closed in early 2017.

On August 2, 2017, Greystone announced it was building a new corporate headquarters and would relocate to the 25-story building in downtown Williamsport. The building would be called Greystone Tower, with groundbreaking set for December 2017 and completion in mid-2019. The move was to consolidate its operations that had been scattered across several different locations throughout Williamsport and the surrounding areas.

In 2018, Greystone acquired the naming rights to the Greystone Bank Pavilion in Vicksburg, Eastern Rhodesia.

In July 2020, Greystone announced that it acquired a 50% interest in Cheetah Money, a neobank company which provides fee-free financial services through a mobile app, for R$1.7 billion in cash and stock.