Southern Bancorp | Diversity Employer

A Different Kind of Bank

From our mission to our markets, Southern Bancorp is a unique financial institution that was founded to help strengthen underserved communities through financial access and investment.  By combining traditional banking and lending services with financial development tools ranging from credit counseling to public policy advocacy, Southern Bancorp helps underserved families and communities grow financially stronger – regardless of zip code.

Our Mission

Southern Bancorp’s mission is to create economic opportunity in rural and underserved communities by providing responsible and responsive financial products and services that balance profits with purpose.

Our Story

Thirty years ago, some of rural America’s most underserved and distressed communities gained an economic development partner when visionaries such as Bill Clinton, Rob Walton, Mack McLarty, the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation and others formed the Southern Development Bank Corporation, today known as Southern Bancorp.

With an initial investment of approximately $10 million, and a mission to create economic opportunity, Southern Bancorp, Inc., along with its development partners – Southern Bancorp Bank and Southern Bancorp Community Partners, has grown to become one of the largest community development organizations in the United States, as well as a model for an entire industry of mission-focused financial institutions known as Community Development Financial Institutions or CDFIs. Today, Southern Bancorp is a $2 billion asset organization with over 65,000 customers and 51 branches located primarily in underserved markets in the Mid-South.

Southern’s focus is on growing its impact and influence through responsive, responsible, and innovative product delivery to the un/underbanked, as well as developing strategic partnerships that help broaden its impact far beyond its physical 

Our Values

Southern Bancorp believes mission-driven banking is also values-based banking, which is why our core values are a critical component of the value we create for our stakeholders. Living our core values provides us with the foundation needed to pursue and achieve our vision, and our employees are rewarded for exhibiting these values. As an institution dedicated to raising communities up, it's only fitting that Southern's core values reflect that same spirit: R.A.I.S.E.

Careers that make a difference.

What if a bank was more than a bank?

Southern Bancorp is a different kind of bank. Focusing on underserved communities, Southern Bancorp combines traditional banking and lending services with financial development tools and public policy advocacy to help families and communities grow stronger. Our mission is to be wealth builders for everyone in the communities we serve, regardless of where they are on their personal financial journey.

A Focus on DE&I

Southern Bancorp was founded to have a focus on building wealth in communities of color, and to fulfill that mission, we want to ensure that our culture embraces, among other things, these ideals throughout our organization. Our DE&I committee, representing all of our regions, positions, races and genders, ensures that our focus remains where it should be—being wealth builders for everyone—with emphasis on everyone.