News
The CFPB has released its Fair Lending Annual Report to Congress, describing how the agency took action against unlawful discrimination and advanced access to fair credit in calendar year 2023.
"Because Congress charged the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) with the responsibility of overseeing many lenders and products, the CFPB has long used a risk-based approach to prioritizing supervisory examinations and enforcement activity. This approach helps ensure that the CFPB focuses on areas that present substantial risk of credit discrimination for consumers and small businesses..."
"After a huge infusion of capital from the Treasury Department, community development financial and minority depository institutions needed deposits. A lot of deposits. So, they banded together to create a program for socially minded investors seeking to make an impact while ensuring their funds are safe.
'This is a new-money program,' said Brian Argrett, CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based City First Bank. 'It opens the window to start a deposit relationship and then to be able to figure out, in collaboration with that depositor, how else we can satisfy our mutual goals, particularly within the local market, low-and-moderate-income communities and communities of color.'"
"President Joe Biden's appointment of Christy Goldsmith Romero to head the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. will put the longtime regulator atop a powerful agency that's been torched by findings of rampant harassment and toxic behavior.
If she's approved by the Senate, repairing that culture will be her first job. But she'll also be tasked with policing more than 4,500 banks that hold about $24 trillion in assets. And if you know Goldsmith Romero, you know she takes a dim view of regulators who downplay their enforcement responsibilities.
Here's how Goldsmith Romero once described her responsibilities as special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the massive government bank rescue operation where she was charged with leading 140 people (including 85 special agents) who investigated fraud, waste and abuse at financial institutions:
'I knew that we could not turn to the bank regulators to point us to the fraud,' she said, describing her efforts to develop 'innovative techniques' to identify bad behavior. In some cases, she said, 'bankers have been going to jail and being sentenced to prison.'"
The House Appropriations Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee has approved the Fiscal Year 2025 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act. The top line for the CDFI Fund is $276.6 million, which is approximately $48 million below the FY 24 enacted levels and the FY 25 budget request. Within that total, the draft bill recommends reductions for Bank Enterprise Award, FA/TA funding, Small Dollar loans, and no funding for Healthy Food Financing and Economic Mobility. NACA appropriations increase by $ 10 million.
"State Street Corp. in Boston has picked three more minority banks to receive a portion of the $100 million of deposits it plans to place this year at some of the nation's minority depository institutions.
Carver State Bank in Savannah, Georgia; Citizens Trust Bank in Atlanta; and Ponce Bank in New York City will each receive an undisclosed amount of deposits as part of State Street's program to provide low-cost, stable deposits to MDIs and community development financial institutions. The trio joins Optus Bank in Columbia, South Carolina, and M&F Bank in Durham, North Carolina, the first two recipients of State Street's deposits."
"Wealth managers Bank of New York Mellon Corp., Warburg Pincus & Co. and Blackstone Inc. tied up with advocacy trade groups Community Development Bankers Association and National Bankers Association to launch the Advancing Communities Together (ACT) deposit program, which aims to boost deposits at banks serving low-income and minority communities.
At launch, four major financial firms deposited $35 million in the program, with additional deposits anticipated from a broad range of depositors, including corporations, foundations and universities, according to a press release.
Deposit management firm IntraFi LLC is powering the program with its network of 3,000 banks nationwide, giving depositors access to multimillion-dollar insurance from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the release said.
According to IntraFi's website, the ACT program aims to bolster funding for community lending by making it easier for a participating bank that is a community development financial institution (CDFI) or minority depository institution (MDI) to acquire funds from socially motivated depositors."
"Today, Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) . . . announced the 7(a) Working Capital Pilot (WCP) Program. The WCP offers a newly structured line of credit, made by 7(a) lenders and backed by the SBA, designed to give greater flexibility than a traditional term loan."
The Community Development Bankers Association (CDBA) and National Bankers
Association (NBA) are proud to announce the launch of the Advancing Communities Together (ACT)
Deposit Program. This innovative initiative is designed to channel vital funding to banks serving
low-income and minority communities while also ensuring all deposits are eligible for FDIC insurance.
At launch, four major financial firms have deposited $35 million in the program, with additional deposits
anticipated from a broad range of depositors, including corporations, foundations, and universities.
"It has been my honor to serve at the FDIC as Chairman, Vice Chairman, and Director since August of 2005. Throughout that time I have faithfully carried out the critically important mission of the FDIC to maintain public confidence and stability in the banking system. In light of recent events, I am prepared to step down from my responsibilities once a successor is confirmed. Until that time, I will continue to fulfill my responsibilities as Chairman of the FDIC, including the transformation of the FDIC's workplace culture."
"CBC Bancorp, the holding company for Commercial Bank of California (CBC), announces it has entered into a definitive acquisition agreement with Bay Community Bancorp (OTC Pink: CBOBA), the holding company for Community Bank of the Bay (CBB). Under the terms of the agreement, CBC Bancorp will acquire Bay Community Bancorp in an all-cash transaction valued at $14.00 per common share. This acquisition merges institutions from two of California's largest banking markets, resulting in approximately $3.5 billion in combined assets.
'The alignment of our two institutions will create a unique banking franchise that better serves our employees and clients,' said Ash Patel, chairman of the board, CEO and president of Commercial Bank of California. 'Once we combine our two reputable banking platforms, it will create a transformative business bank with expanded product offerings driven by the purpose to serve our communities across California.'"