Fortuna Bank, a woman-owned bank for women, opened in Grandview Heights, OH at the end of 2024. An NPR podcast covering Fortuna’s ribbon-cutting ceremony left me hungry for more details.
As a credit analyst with lived experience in Columbus, I wanted to know the vision for Fortuna, and whether economic structural change since 2025 were impacting their ambitions. Lisa Berger was eager to tell me anything I wanted to know, but as we talked, and when I checked the facts, the real story emerged–about women with determination and domain experience closing the woman’s credit gap.
Who Are The Founders, And Why A Women’s Bank?
Berger grew up in Columbus, OH, in a family where females were allowed to be ambitious and enjoy success. A Princeton graduate with a law degree from Ohio State, Berger had aced two careers before 40, the first career with Columbus’s most prestigious law firm, Porter, Wright, Morris & Arthur, and the second, upscaling a local title company, AmeriTitle Downtown, that she purchased in 2006.
By 2016, she had sold her company and was looking for a new challenge. When her close circle of collaborators said “start a women’s bank,” Berger, a consummate team player, listened. It resonated that the veteran banker she worked with while building AmeriTitle, Ilaria Rawlins, was keen. Rawlins became the co-Founder.
Banking Women: The Opportunity Is Hidden In Plain View
Goldman Sachs puts the women’s credit gap at $1.5 TN and tell us it’s stopping global economic growth. Women-owned businesses in the U.S. are forming twice as fast as the national average rate. The trend began in 2000 but will accelerate through 2048, as $124 TN changes hands: the largest intergenerational wealth transfer in history. Of the total, 74% will go to women: $54 TN to surviving spouses, $47 TN to younger women.
Today 50.5% of Americans are women, but less than 0.5% of total U.S. banks are women-owned banks. Fortuna Bank stands to benefit disproportionally. It is one of only three American operating banks originally intentionally created to be women-owned. Other banks in line to benefit are First Women’s Bank of Chicago (2019) and Agility Bank (2022), whose status has since changed to a Minority Depository Institution.
But The Women’s Credit Gap Is Real
The story of First Women’s Bank of New York City is an allegory of denial that the women’s credit gap exists. Founded in 1975 after the Equal Credit Opportunity Act passed, Betty Friedan and Fed banker Madeleine McWhinney Dale set it up with a mission to close the women’s credit gap. In 1986, First Women’s was sold to an investor group. In 1989, it was rebranded as First New York Bank for Business.
The chair who also led the buyout, Martin A. Simon, said, “I believe when this bank was formed, it was making a political statement as well as a business statement. I don’t think the political statement is as valid anymore. I think the business statement needs to be reaffirmed.” But his logic was backwards: in 1992, the New York Bank for Business was closed due to heavy real estate losses. The women’s credit gap is still wide open.
Berger says women business owners account for less than 5% of all capital loaned to small companies. Of the 425 women-owned businesses in the U.S., many finance their continued operations through retained earnings. As every credit analyst knows, artificial caps on growth reduce business agility and expose the credit to greater risk, through no fault of the owner. Women business owners are much more likely to be turned down for commercial loans than men. Even when approved, women are less likely to receive the full proceeds of their loan request. Men are 300% more likely to be granted business loans—the inequality rises for requests over $150,000. Men also make up 75% of commercial lenders.
Berger told me, “Men who want to build businesses will generally know someone who can help. Women don’t have the same access to mentors and cheerleaders who can help pave the way or even explain the options.” She added, “Years in real estate law and running the title company definitely showed me, when it comes to financial literacy women are lagging woefully behind.”
Financial and confidence gaps make it hard for women to pitch their credit. And when they do, the listener may be hearing something else. A current study by badcredit.org shows women three times more likely to be judged “reckless” for making mistakes whereas men’s mistakes are likely to be framed as “strategic” or part of his learning process. A key conclusion from the study: how we “frame mistakes based on bias can impact how people are trusted, promoted or given a second chance, especially in financial or leadership roles.” Or in access to credit.
But Women Who Start Small Banks Also Face Hurdles
Even for Berger and Rawlins, trusted business professionals in their community who know a lot about managing money, it was a “a real struggle” to raise the regulatory required startup capital amount of $20 million, because the majority of investors had to be women. They asked more questions and took longer to decide than the groups of mostly men they pitched, where the answers were a clear “yes” or “no.”
Berger explained: “Women aren’t comfortable investing. They are not the ones usually asked to make significant monetary investments for the family. They needed more time to reflect and consult with their husbands or financial advisors.” The difference is a clear reflection of how the investors have been conditioned by the very credit gap Fortuna Bank is intended to close. But in the end, the raise topped the required amount and pulled in 350 investors.
Now Fortuna is up and running. For now, the main hurdles are more mundane, related to nitty-gritty logistics of a startup bank in an industry suited to mega-banks. Like getting the 9-digit financial “Zip code” used in electronic funds transfer, called the routing number, recognized by the network of potential counterparties is “a battle we face every day.” Berger said the solutions often come down to knowing who to talk to–and this is where knowing the business and being locally connected are key.
Building Financial Confidence By Being That Mentor And Coach
Berger and Rawlins share their vision of Fortuna Bank as an open, welcoming space designed, in Rawlins’ words, to take the stress and mystery out of banking and help clients comfortably and confidently move forward with their business. Visits are encouraged. The lobby can be used as a workspace. Money is transacted privately in offices instead of teller lines. Staff can answer questions, coach, and mentor anyone who chooses to use Fortuna’s space.
Fortuna also hosts workshops on financial products and planning. Two sources of ideas and support are corporate investors, Park National (Newark) and OhioHealth. The latter is a nonprofit health care system creating a state of the art women’s health center. Women’s health is another rising commercial opportunity. The World Economic Forum estimates its current value at around $1 TN.
“It’s what intrigued [OhioHealth] about what we were doing. They include us in the conversation about how we—all of us together—can collectively make an impact in the lives of women.”
What It Means To Be Mission-Driven
The changing structure of the U.S. economy is uncertain. How have the changes impacted Fortuna’s plans? Not much, says Berger. She notes that Columbus has a resilient, diversified economy that has withstood crisis better than many other places in the U.S. The statistics back her up. Columbus recovered faster after the GFC than most of the rest of the U.S., and its growth rate following Covid-19 was 7.1%.
The main challenge in the Fortuna Bank business model is not the economy but the perennial challenge of closing the women’s credit gap. Berger and Rawlins not only knew about the challenge going in–they dived in with an intention to change it, bringing with them authentic tools, experience and solutions. Fortuna’s most remarkable competitive edge is its mission-driven culture powered by know-how.