Building a Family Bank

The patriarch and matriarch were primarily concerned with ensuring their children did not squander the family’s wealth, building a scalable business that did not rely on traditional banks for capital, and addressing long-term estate tax exposure. Managing relationships with more than a dozen banks had become increasingly burdensome, and the current interest rate environment made capital consolidation difficult. As a result, the patriarch set a bold goal: to create a $100 million family bank so the family could become its own source of capital. While the legacy team began developing the preamble to the family constitution, the succession and family office team focused on strengthening the underlying business and financial structure.

The process began with a comprehensive global snapshot of all holdings and assets, followed by an analysis of consolidated cash flow across all companies. From there, the team projected ten years of after-tax cash flow to identify capital that could be systematically allocated toward building the family bank. What was initially envisioned as a 15–20-year objective was refined into a seven- to nine-year path to reach $100 million in liquidity. This acceleration was achieved by reducing unnecessary capital expenditures, optimizing cash balances across accounts, and introducing private capital solutions to free up cash flow. To further enhance performance, operations consultant Shawn Priddy worked closely with the COO to identify efficiencies and implement cultural strength initiatives, improving scalability and organizational health while boosting cash flow.

The outcome was a more disciplined, business-like family office with clearly defined roles, responsibilities, and operating rhythms. Eliminating overlap across companies created operational clarity and increased efficiency, leading to improved profitability. Financially, the family gained a more strategic approach to capital allocation by projecting quarterly cash flow and assigning purpose to every dollar before quarter-end. Most importantly, they built growing internal liquidity that allowed them to lend capital to their own companies, earning a spread while maintaining control. This structure enabled the family to perpetuate wealth, autonomy, and long-term stewardship without being constrained by traditional banking requirements or external underwriting.

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