News
"The Senate Banking Committee will consider the nomination of Christy Goldsmith Romero to chair the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on July 11, the panel announced.
Goldsmith Romero, who currently sits on the board of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, was just recently announced as the Biden administration's pick to lead the FDIC in the wake of a workplace misbehavior scandal at the agency.
The committee, in the same hearing, will also consider the nominations of Caroline Crenshaw to be a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Kristin Johnson to be assistant secretary of financial institutions at the Treasury Department and Gordon Ito to be a member of the Financial Stability Oversight Council with expertise in insurance."
"Technology has changed the way financial services companies operate. As financial institutions innovate and develop new solutions, an unfortunate side effect of the banking industry's growth is that some communities have been marginalized or ignored.
Community Development Bankers Association (CDBA) began in the early 2000s and is the national trade association of the community development bank sector. The organization has enjoyed stable leadership — Jeannine Jacokes has been CDBA's CEO since it began.
The association started shortly after the establishment by the U.S. Treasury Department of the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund, which offers community development banks resources and programs that invest federal dollars to help them support economically disadvantaged communities."
"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."