Cornerstone Capital Bank in Houston announced it has launched a new qualified retirement plan that invests in its parent company's stock and allows employees to share in ownership.

Company team members, including those in affiliated business arrangements, will be eligible to participate in the employee stock ownership plan. Joint venture and real estate agent partners from outside the company will not be.

The privately held company's ESOP took years to put together and will grant team members "a significant ownership stake," Vice Chairman Adam Laird said in a press release.

ESOPs can offer advantages when it comes to taxation, recruiting, retention and succession planning. They are closely regulated by the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Labor and place some restrictions on the pricing and disposition of a private company's stock.

"This ESOP embodies our longstanding belief that team members who are owners align with a higher purpose in their work, resulting in an exceptional level of caring service to our clients while producing substantial and sustainable financial results," President and CEO Scott Almy said in a press statement.

An employee-focused bank with home lending roots

The bank, which was formed via a merger between Cornerstone Home Lending and a bank in 2022, originated more than $3.14 billion last year, according to iEmergent's analysis of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data. That number was up from $2.86 billion in 2024. 

(CCB also acquired Peoples Bancorp of Lubbock, Texas, in a deal that closed earlier this month. That company's volume has not yet been accounted for in Cornerstone Capital's HMDA data.)

Other initiatives Cornerstone has launched on behalf of employees include a fund they can voluntarily contribute to if they wish to support colleagues with financial hardships. The fund has distributed $1.3 million to 500 employees.

The company also noted that it has an active volunteer time-off program that has collectively clocked in 2,800 hours of work for 500 community causes.