A 40-year-old mortgage company is looking to become a bank built specifically to serve college and professional athletes.
Data Mortgage, which operates as Essex Mortgage, applied to the Texas Department of Banking and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to convert to a Texas state-chartered bank called Bank Elevated. The Aug. 28 application would let the bank retain Essex’s tax identification number and its seller-servicer approvals, allowing mortgage origination to continue uninterrupted once the bank opens.
Bank Elevated would have a specific focus on college and professional athletes who “receive real income suddenly and with little financial guidance” — along with the fans and families who follow them.
The market opportunity: more than 500,000 NCAA student-athletes and an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 professional athletes are eligible to earn name, image and likeness (NIL) compensation. “Payment applications move money but hold no insured deposits; education platforms teach but do not bank; and private banks engage only at the wealth-qualified tier,” the filing said. “The bank occupies that open middle.”
The bank would be based in Frisco, Texas and operate primarily as a digital bank, with a small number of “athletically themed” branches planned for Jupiter, Fla.; Park Cities, Utah; and Sioux Falls, S.D.
Bank Elevated’s business plan centers on four business lines: retail digital deposit gathering built on Essex’s existing network; continuation of Essex’s retail and correspondent mortgage origination; a credit card program tailored to the athlete and fan community; and commercial, commercial real estate, and high-net-worth lending for diversification.
Weedon will serve as executive chairman of the bank and its holding company, BE Financial, which he will own outright. Stephen Curry, a veteran banker, would serve as CEO.
Director nominees include Stephen Everbach, president and CEO of Evergreen Realty Advisors and former president of Colliers International’s Central Region, and Dak Hartsock, a 25-year executive who was vice chairman of a $3 billion mortgage company. Named senior officers include Joseph Siegel as chief credit officer, Kirsten McMullen as chief financial officer, Larry Gordon as chief compliance officer, and Jason Clark as chief legal officer.
Bank Elevated isn’t raising outside capital. BE Financial will be the bank’s sole shareholder, and all of the bank’s capital will roll over directly from Essex, marked to market at conversion. The application notes Essex completed three unspecified “material de-risking transactions” in 2026, including the sale of a large portion of its mortgage servicing portfolio, a guaranty arrangement, and a sub-servicing agreement.