Robert Johnson Hits Again

BET founder Robert L. Johnson is at it again, this time opening his first bank in Washington, D.C, the flagship branch of his Urban Trust Bank, an affiliate of his Bethesda, Md. headquartered RLJ Companies LLC.

Earlier this year Johnson bought struggling Metro Bank FSB of Orlando as part of his acquisition of its parent company, Worldwide Financial Investors Inc. of Marietta, Ga.

Renamed Urban Trust, and headquartered in Washington, D.C, the bank is part of an effort by Johnson to build what he hopes will be the country's largest minority-owned financial services company.

Johnson says his plan is to target a wide urban customer base that includes single mothers, entrepreneurs and students.

“According to a recent study, the percentage of African Americans, even when you standardize for income and education, are still under-banked and discriminated against by certain bank lending practices. So when you look at a scenario where there’s still a failure on the part of the banking community to service the African American community, that tells me there’s an opportunity to fill that gap and provide that service whether it’s home loans, student lending, or small business lending. We see there’s a key opportunity,” Johnson says.

Johnson became America's first black billionaire when he sold BET for $3 billion to media giant Viacom in 2000. He has since started The RLJ Companies LLC., a holding company for all his various ventures.

Johnson bought 100 hotels for $1.7 billion in August making him one of the largest black hotel operators in America. He is also the first black person to hold a controlling interest in a professional sports team.

Johnson was ranked 374th on Forbes magazine's list of the 400 richest Americans last week.