With Colorado Banks in Crisis, Can “Innovation Centers” Like Boulder’s Provide a Better Funding Source?

Colorado’s banking industry is seriously ailing: About one quarter of banks in the state were considered “troubled or problematic” at the close of 2010, according to BauerFinancial, which rates banking institutions (Denver Post). That’s an increase from about one in five in 2009 and roughly double the national average. The second- and third-largest bank failures in the United States so far this year—United Western Bank and FirsTier Bank—have occurred in Colorado.

Moreover, the Post reports, a survey at bestcashcow.com rates community banks in the state as among the least able in the nation to weather losses from bad debt. Meanwhile, two of the largest commercial banks serving customers in Colorado—Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase—are cutting debit card rewards for customers (Denver Business Journal).

In Boulder, some startups are relying on the Boulder Innovation Center for funding rather than banks, creating more than 300 new jobs in the last five years (Daily Camera).