Enhancing Partnerships with Community Banks

Local banking partners are an important asset for a company like Comcast, including its Comcast Cable and NBCUniversal divisions, with operations in 50 states and 30-plus countries internationally. 

In April 2011, Comcast added The Williams Capital Group, L.P. (Williams Capital), a minority-owned bank, as one of its four placement agencies in its $2.25 billion commercial paper program, an ongoing effort whereby Comcast routinely sells short-term promissory notes to mutual funds and other investors for working capital financing. As of November 2012, Williams Capital had issued $1.2 billion of commercial paper for Comcast.

Christopher Williams, CEO and founder of Williams Capital, started the company in 1994. "There have been many challenges since Williams Capital’s inception, but our continued growth has been possible only through the critical support of our clients, such as Comcast," he said.

Williams Capital is a diversified financial services firm, providing access to capital markets. "We provide a number of services to corporations, including stock repurchase, financial advisory, and debt and equity underwriting. An important role that we play is the identification of potential investors in our clients’ securities and the execution of a broad distribution process for fixed income and equity securities issued for these corporate clients," Williams said. 

In October 2011, Williams was named among the 75 Most Powerful Blacks on Wall Street by Black Enterprise magazine.