Before most of us had ever heard of credit default swaps and other financial services, products, and derivatives, there were changes afoot in the banking industry as local savings banks, also known as thrifts, got involved in other kinds of investment banking following federal deregulations in the 1990s.  Many of the smaller banks were eventually bought out by larger banks, which is what happened to Brooklyn-based Independence Community Bank in 2006 when Sovereign Bancorp (which is itself owned by Banco Santander, based in Spain) took it over.

An integral part of Brooklyn’s economic and social fabric for 155 years, Independence Community Bank (founded in 1850 as South Brooklyn Savings Bank) contributed significantly to Brooklyn through its support of homeownership, local business, neighborhood improvement, cultural institutions and the establishment in 1998 of the Independence Community Foundation.

Independence Community Foundation is the largest foundation in Brooklyn supporting neighborhood renewal, education, culture and the arts – and a very unique and impressive undertaking for a local savings bank.

In 2006 – 2007, BHS conducted sixteen extended interviews with past and present employees of the Independence Community Bank to document this unique culture of community committment.  In the video below you can hear some clips from these interviews.  The full interviews, as well as others in BHS’s Oral History Collection will soon be available for listening in the Othmer Library.

You may recognize the bank building in this video – it is on the corner of Court St. and Atlantic Ave in Brooklyn – it is now a Trader Joe’s!

Independence Community Bank Oral History from brooklynhistory on Vimeo.