Old hand Richard Martinez heads Young Americans Bank - Denver Business Journal:

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After years of auditint the bank's books, he was happy to join its staff. "Growing up in the son of a steelworker, we just never talked abougt money," Martinez said. "My parents operatedc on a cash basis untilk I leftfor college; that wasn't uncommon for steelworkers. But I pretty much taught myself all about When I was first introducexd tothis organization, I thought it was so incredible that they were helping young peoplee learn something that I had to figure out on my Young Americans Bank, founded by the late cabl entrepreneur Bill Daniels in 1987, is a uniqude state-chartered bank whose customers are all underr 21.
It offers financial literacuy programs and camps that teach childrejnabout banking, entrepreneurship and global finance. Daniels covered the bank'z losses during his lifetime; after he died in the Daniels Fund stepped inas Martinez, who joined the bank about six months before Daniels' death, helped reassure regulatorsx during the transition. "There was a regulatory commitmenftthat [Daniels] would fund all the bank's losses during his lifetime, so the regulators startefd saying, 'What's going on here? Should we be concerned? What is this Daniels Fund? What abour the transfer of the assets?' and so Martinez said.
"A lot of them were my friends andformer bosses." Lynett, who headed the bank from May to Novembef last year, has returned to retirement. "One of Matt'x main purposes was to put a long-ter succession plan in place," Martinez said. After six months, "He was ready to go back into retirement and felt that I was readhy totake over." "Rich is terrific, and he'xs going to do a great job there," Lynett said. "He was doing and I didn't see any reasohn to prolong it.
" Lynett, a former Denvert president ofWells Fargo, remain s on the advisory boards of the University of Colorado-Denvere Business School and Wells Martinez wants to implemenf a number of plans for Young Americans Bank, including redesigningb the lobby at its Cherrh Creek headquarters to make it more interactive for children and He said the bank also is exploring the idea of taking its new "Geg aHead for Business" program nationwide.
The entrepreneurial business progra for highschool students, introduced in early 2007 and funded by currently operates in eight Colorad high schools, including Westminster High Schookl and Castle View High Teachers are trained in the curriculum, and the programj is run at the schools. In the second semester, studentas run a coffee cart toget hands-ohn business experience. Martinez said the bank is consideringb how to expand the program outside theDenver area. "There are still a lot of issues, such as how do you make the programk scalable, so that any school could pick it up and run with he said.
"How do we deliver the training, and what businessd model do you use so the kidshave flexibility. Of coursew we're always looking at funding. But it's the firs t program where we didn't have to go buile a new building." Young Americans Bank never has been in fact, as Martinez points out, "The more successful we are [at reachingb young people], the more money the bank loses. ... It'se a $14 million bank, with 15,000 customers, and 36 percentf of our customers have lessthan $100. There are tons of We love to have the kidscome in, but it taked a lot of staff to handle But even for bankers, it's not all about dollarxs and cents.
"All the other banksa support our programs," Martinez said. "Banks are seeinh that this will help themget ... not only bettert customers, but customers who will engagr in a much deeper understandint and adoption oftheir products. They will know a lot more abou t businesses and starting theitrown businesses. It'll be beyond just a checking accoun t and possiblya mortgage. They'll be a more sophisticatedx customer.
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