[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 111 (Thursday, August 11, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 11, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                NEW YORK NATIONAL THRIVES ON FAMILY TIES

                                 ______


                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, August 11, 1994

  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize Mr. Serafin Mariel, the 
founder and president of New York National Bank. Mr. Mariel is the 
epitome of leadership and commitment. Mr. Mariel has demonstrated 
through hard work and faith that one can encourage economic growth in 
economically depressed minority areas.
  By investing in his community, Mr. Mariel is an American who is a 
part of the solution and not the problem. It is Americans like Mr. 
Mariel who will save our economically depressed communities by 
investing in the American people. I am thankful that Mr. Mariel's 
grandmother had such a positive impact on him because Mr. Mariel is an 
asset to his community.
  I am especially proud of Mr. Mariel's achievements in my 
congressional district because he is an example of an individual who 
has given back to his community.
  Mr. Speaker, I present the following article written by Austin Evans 
Fenner for the Daily News, on July 7, 1994.

                  N.Y. National Thrives on Family Ties

       Serafin Mariel credits his grandmother for his banking 
     success.
       Mariel, 50, still keeps her old savings account passbook. 
     He is founder and president of New York National Bank (NYNB), 
     which owns the old Manufacturers Hanover branch on Second 
     Ave. and 116th St., where his grandmother deposited her 
     money.
       ``I'm planning to frame it and hang it on the wall of the 
     branch,'' said Mariel.
       NYNB acquired the branch in 1964. It has another branch in 
     the South Bronx, started in the mid-1980s when the larger 
     commercial banks pulled out of economically depressed 
     minority areas.
       ``I want to be there,'' said Mariel. ``I have no problem 
     holding mortgages in those neighborhoods.''
       Mariel wants to take his bullish attitude and open 
     additional branches in Central Harlem and the South Bronx.
       New York National has more than $62 million in assets, and 
     is one of four minority-owned commercial banks in New York 
     City. The others are EastBank, $72 million in assets; Golden 
     City Commercial Bank, $61 million, and Banco Popular de 
     Puerto Rico, over $1.3 billion.
       ``When someone says they want to do something in the 
     minority community, that's music to my ears,'' said Mariel, 
     who added that he is always extending.
       ``If someone is having a difficult time getting a mortgage, 
     I don't say `why are you calling me?' I make the calls 
     necessary to help where I can,'' he said.
       New York National is one of the success stories in the 
     South Bronx, said Clint Roswell, spokesman for Bronx Borough 
     President Fernando Ferrer. ``They are a very community-minded 
     bank and have done a lot to spur growth in the area.''
       Mariel's grandmother raised him after his parents died when 
     he was young.
       He says her lessons of ``respect for ourselves and others 
     and a need to work hard'' made the difference in his life.
       As a child, he did everything from selling bags at the La 
     Marquetta on Park Ave. to shining shoes.
       Mariel studied biology and history at Hunter College, but 
     did not finish due to marriage.
       After a stint with the Post Office, he took a pay cut and 
     got a job as a teller with Bankers Trust at the South Bronx 
     branch.
       Mariel eventually graduated from the Stonier Graduate 
     School of Banking at Rutgers.
       After rising quickly through the ranks at Bankers Trust--
     eventually becoming vice president of its International 
     Department--he decided to strike out on his own.
       After assembling partners and investors, he founded New 
     York National in 1962.
       ``I wanted to continue banking that would serve my 
     community,'' he said. ``I have a love an affection for my 
     community . . . and they reciprocate.''

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