In this Spotlight on Community Banks article, we spoke with Joe Zanco Henry, President and Chief Executive Officer of Catalyst Bancorp. Joe discusses the bank’s accomplishments since becoming a publicly traded company and the importance of financial literacy and community involvement.
Catalyst Bancorp, Inc., is a Louisiana corporation that serves as the holding company for Catalyst Bank. Catalyst Bank, founded in 1922, is a federally chartered savings bank that serves the banking needs of customers in our market area in the Acadiana region of south-central Louisiana. We operate from our headquarters and main banking office in Opelousas, Louisiana, as well as three additional full-service branch offices in St. Landry Parish and two branch offices in Lafayette Parish, Louisiana. Our primary business activity is attracting deposits from the public and using those funds primarily to originate loans and purchase investment securities.
Catalyst Bancorp has been listed on Nasdaq since 2021 and trades under the symbol “CLST”.
How has your mission evolved since completing your IPO?
Since completing our IPO in October 2021, we’ve rebranded our company and celebrated our 100th year in business. Our new name, Catalyst Bank, now reflects our mission: to be catalysts for economic growth in our communities. We live our mission by helping local businesses grow. When those businesses grow they create jobs, providing more families the opportunity to improve their lives. Given the success of our IPO, we now have a far greater capacity to pursue our mission.
How important is community involvement for a bank of your size? What are some of the ways you’re working to better the communities you serve?
At our core, we believe that each of us reaches our full potential through serving others. Community involvement is critical to our company’s success – not only because it helps us to build others – but it also brings greater perspective to our jobs. The more successful we are as a company, the more impactful we are in helping others reach their full potential.
We help our employees discover their strengths and then seek to plug them into community organizations where their strengths and passions have maximum impact. Given our financial knowledge, many of our bankers take leading roles in organizations focused on enhancing financial literacy. From K-12 students to prison ministry, we don’t seek to merely teach math skills. We do our best to help others understand the key life decisions that foster better financial outcomes.
Joe Zanco (Middle) outside of Lafayette Branch with members of the Catalyst Bank team.
What’s been the biggest surprise during your two and a half years as a publicly traded company?
Regulations governing our IPO process (a mutual-to-stock conversion) gave our customers top priority for investing in our company. We were amazed at the level of support we received from our customers and community. Their loyalty helped ensure we raised the maximum level of capital allowed through the mutual-to-stock conversion process. With such a significant capital influx, we have been able to expand our geography and enhance the level of services we provide. Reflecting on the past two and a half years, becoming a publicly traded company has been a win-win-win for our customers, our community, and us.
During our IPO, we established an employee stock ownership program that owns 8% of the company. Thus, our employees don’t just work here, they are owners. It has been inspiring to watch the heightened level of engagement that comes with ownership.
Who is the ideal Catalyst Bancorp customer? How do you build customer loyalty?
Our tagline is, “Fueling Business. Improving Lives.” So, our ideal customers are those looking to expand and improve their businesses. We believe quality jobs are key to bettering our communities. Hence, we get our greatest satisfaction when we help local businesses thrive.
We do our best to build loyalty by being more responsive and more flexible than our competitors. Our bankers have a strong sense of urgency not to wait until tomorrow for what can be accomplished today. We also take the time to develop customized banking solutions for our customers, rather than trying to fit them into a box of our choosing.
Connect with Catalyst Bank:
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About Joe Zanco:
Joe serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Catalyst Bank (CLST). Prior thereto, he was the Chief Financial Officer of Home Bank (HBCP). He is a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Internal Auditor. He served as the inaugural Chairman of the Board of One Acadiana and serves on the Board of Directors of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI). He is a recipient of the AICPA’s National Public Service Award and the Society of Louisiana CPA’s Distinguished Public Service Award. His current volunteer work includes Innerfaith Prison Ministry and The Bayou Church Student Ministry. He is a 2022 graduate of Leadership Louisiana and holds a B.S. in Accounting from Louisiana State University.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
