the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Fort Lee NJ, to great fanfare Cross River Bank (“Cross River”), a technology-focused financial services organization and Banking-as-a-Service (“BaaS”) provider based in Fort Lee, announced the grand opening of its new headquarters at 2115 Linwood Avenue.in April of 2021.
We are immensely proud that in calling New Jersey home, Cross River has recognized the wealth of advantages our state has to offer, including one of the most diverse and educated workforces in the country,” said Governor Phil Murphy that year. “Cross River and companies like them are exactly the type of innovative firms that will help bring our state once again to the forefront of the innovation economy.”
Gilles Gade, Founder, CEO and Chairman of Cross River. “We thank Governor Murphy and the NJEDA for their support and we’re thrilled to celebrate this momentous occasion with the entire Cross River family, together with our community partners and neighbors who have been right beside us from the very beginning.” Gade added “There is one address in the fintech industry, and that is Cross River. Our new headquarters is emblematic of our growth here in New Jersey, but more importantly, plants the seed of the future for Cross River,”
Cross River billed itself as the next big thing, merging the forward-thinking offerings of a technology company with the established expertise of a bank, while maintaining a strong focus on regulatory compliance and consumer protection. As a New Jersey state-chartered community bank, Cross River has demonstrated firsthand how the state’s structure and support has played an integral role in propelling economic advancement, innovation and increased investment opportunities.
Under the leadership of Governor Phil Murphy and the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) led by Tim Sullivan, Cross River was awarded a Grow NJ Grant to help purchase a new 70,000-square-foot building in Fort Lee. Since announced in 2019, Cross River has already hired more than 400 team members, nearly doubling its workforce in New Jersey.
Cross River claimed to be at the forefront of both banking and technology, powering some of the most successful companies like Affirm, Coinbase, Rocket Loans, Stripe and Upstart. Having opened its doors in Teaneck in June of 2008 with the primary goal of providing access to responsible credit products for businesses and consumers in need, Cross River has flourished in the state as a result of its public-private collaboration and the support of the local legislators and organizations like the NJEDA, Choose New Jersey, the New Jersey-Israel Commission and the New Jersey Bankers Association.
Now Cross River Bank in Fort Lee has been issued a cease and desist order by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. over allegedly “unsafe or unsound banking practices” related to fair-lending laws. The Bergen County bank is a partner with many financial technology and crypto firms. The bank allegedly failed to establish and maintain “internal controls, information systems, and prudent credit underwriting practices,” the FDIC said Friday. The 34-page consent agreement is dated March 8 but was released to the public on Friday, April 28. In it, Cross River did not admit or deny any of the charges brought forward in the document.
According to the settlement agreement, the bank’s board of directors must improve management and oversight of controls and guarantee that corrective steps are executed. The company must obtain FDIC approval for new third parties and credit products.
A recent report of Cross River’s first quarter financials seemingly shows that the firm’s total loans and lease financing receivables amount to $6.4 billion, of which approximately $1.2 billion are more than 90 days past due. This comes from the previous quarter report where total loans ended at $7.3 billion with $2.2 billion beyond the 90-day due mark. It is also interesting to note that the share of the past due receivables the firm had has spiked in the last year, from under 1% to beyond 30% in the quarter ending December 2022.