Organizers recently applied to open a de novo in Minneapolis. The group submitted a deposit insurance application to the FDIC to form AarBank on Oct. 11. The applicants listed the de novo’s headquarters as 2011 21st Ave. S., southeast of downtown Minneapolis. A full application was not available.
A public notice filed last week in the Minneapolis Star Tribune listed Osman Gabeire, Omar Sheikh Mohamed, Keith Mestrich, Mark Ritchie, Nasreen Quibria, Archana Bae, Simon Trautmann, Abdulkader Thomas, Habon Abdulle, Christopher Brooks and Eric Ong as applicants.
The 11 organizers have experience in banking, risk management and venture capital. Mestrich was the CEO of Amalgamated Bank in New York from August 2014 to January 2021. Quibria, managing director and founder of the payments company Q Insights, was vice president of emerging payments and technology policy for the Independent Community Bankers of America from October 2020 until March of this year. A seasoned risk management professional, Bae is a managing partner at the behavioral intelligence firm Torchlight AI. Ong is a partner at the Chicago-based LightBank Venture Capital.