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Learn about the 20 year old program in California called the California Organized Investment Network, or COIN. Through its various programs, COIN encourages and tracks insurance company reinvestment into low- and moderate-income areas of California.
Despite celebrating its 20th anniversary in August, COIN has never been permanent. Every few years, the state legislature has to reauthorize it, and the latest COIN reauthorization bill, passed last month, leaves out or severely limits key provisions of the program. Advocates will have to re-start the battle next year in order to restore COIN to its current capacity.
The number of community development banks is rising at a time when the ranks of other financial institutions are shrinking. The special-purpose banks — a subset of community development financial institutions — serve low- and moderate-income communities. By becoming CDFIs, banks — along with credit unions and other types of lenders — can apply for certain funding from the Treasury Department and other agencies.
First Southwest Bank and Bank of Anguilla discuss the reasons why they became CDFI certified banks and Jeannine Jacokes of the Community Development Bankers Association talks about the benefits of CDFI certification for the community banking industry.
Industrial Bank of Washington, D.C., typically opens 300 new accounts in six months. Thanks to the social media campaign #BankBlack, the bank opened 3,000 new accounts for a total of $6 million in just two months.
Emboldened by supportive comments from presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, community development banks including BankPlus, Neighborhood National Bank & Southern Bancorp are asking regulators for more leniency in areas such as disclosure fees and Bank Secrecy Act enforcement. The Community Development Bankers Association sent a letter in late June to Federal Reserve Board Chair Janet Yellen and other high-ranking Fed officials highlighting the trade group's concerns with elements of the Dodd-Frank Act, the Bank Secrecy Act and Basel III.
Mississippi has more CDFIs per capita than any other state. Its financial ecosystem is a unique place, where bankers and residents are coming to see one another as allies despite a difficult history. CDFI's are leading the way. "If we don't help our community, the community’s going to die" says Huey Townsend, President and CEO of Guaranty Bank & Trust. Powered by nearly $2.5 million in awards from the CDFI Fund, his institution has emerged as a leader in providing financial services to the poor, along with a handful of others including Bank of Anguilla in the region. Guaranty Bank & Trust was among the top providers of home loans in the 13 Delta counties where poverty is a persistent problem. Local CDFIs together made fully a third of housing loans here, while the large national banks that dominate home lending in most areas made only a handful.
First Security Bank & Trust is a recipient of the 2016 Innovation in Financial Education Award presented by NASDAQ and EverFi. The award recognizes First Security’s efforts to improve the financial capability of Americans through unique digital learning initiatives. First Security has partnered with EverFi to bring Common Cent$ to local students at no cost to schools or taxpayers, and has reached over 1,100 students since 2011.
Neighborhood Bancorp, the holding company for Neighborhood National Bank, announced today a definitive agreement that will result in doubling the bank's capital. The investment of $6 million is led by Stephen Taylor, Chairman of Chicago-based Taylor Asset Management, who is a noted investor in California community banks. "This agreement represents an important step in recapitalizing and positioning the bank for future growth," said Dan Yates, Neighborhood Bank's President and CEO.
American Banker has released their 2016 list of best banks to work for. CDBA Members Guaranty Bank and Trust, FNBC Bank, Community Bank and Bankplus all made the list.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta are holding a one-day forum on CDFI banking in the Southeast region, in partnership with CDBA, the National Bankers Association and the National Community Investment Fund. Topics will include economic and demographic trends affecting the Southeast, the financial performance of CDFI banks and strategic partnership opportunities. Distinguished speakers will include Atlanta Fed EVP, Bank Supervision and Regulation Michael Johnson, CDFI Fund Director Annie Donovan and FDIC Senior Deputy Director Sylvia Plunkett. The event will be free. Registration information will be circulated in early July.
Over the last few years a small CDFI bank in Kansas, CBW Bank, has become a secret weapon for fintech companies. These tech innovators rely on both CBW’s technology and status as a state-chartered bank to build their own businesses. The bank’s tech roots started when Suresh Ramamurthi, an ex-Google engineer, and his wife Suchitra Padmanabhan, a former Wall Street banker, purchased CBW Bank. Frustrated with the bank’s cumbersome back office software, Ramamuthi decided to build the tech tools he needed himself. After several years, he had built a platform layered on top of the bank’s older architecture that unglues customer bank accounts from segmented pay pipes. That makes activity within the account more transparent and enables CBW to gather real-time information on transactions.