Recent News
When COVID-19 hit, Spring Bank responded by supporting their small business and nonprofit partners when they needed it most. Hours after the CARES Act passed in April of this year, their lending team got to work to assist organizations with their applications for a Payment Protection Program (PPP) loan. Spring Bank is proud to report that as of this month, they secured 360 PPP loans–valued at $86.8 million–for small businesses and nonprofits in the New York City area. With these funds, organizations retained over 5,000 jobs.
The Federal Reserve is lowering the minimum loan size for its middle-market business rescue program by more than half to make the program more available to smaller businesses. The central bank said Friday that small businesses seeking credit from the Main Street Lending Program can access loans as small as $100,000, down from the previous cutoff of $250,000, and that fees will be adjusted accordingly. The $600 billion program, which is funded by the Fed and the Treasury Department through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, is available to businesses with fewer than 15,... Read more
Adecade ago, in the last economic crisis, mainstream banks abandoned Dianna Bowser and the Southside Community Development and Housing Corporation, where she's executive director. Founded in 1988, the nonprofit builds homes and provides counseling for first-time homeowners in and around Richmond, Virginia. ut that’s when Bowser first encountered Virginia Community Capital, a relatively new bank at the time. The bank stepped in to finance a major construction project for her organization. It has an unusual nonprofit ownership structure, a mission to serve underserved or disinvested... Read more
Promontory recently rebranded itself with a pithier name: IntraFi Network. The new name is meant to reflect the company's core mission of partnering with banks and to help it grow and move beyond the service for which it's best known: reciprocal deposits. The company built a system that enables depositors — such as municipal departments, public schools and high-net-worth individuals — to hold large sums with their primary institution without losing Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. coverage. IntraFi parcels out balances that exceed the $250,000 FDIC limit to other banks within the network. ... Read more
The Solar Lending Professional Training - Virtual Series is designed for community-based lending practitioners who are interested in expanding their knowledge of the fundamentals of solar finance and increasing their organization's activity in individual consumer and/or community commercial-level financing. These trainings will cover the knowledge, skills and practices you need to engage in solar lending, including market assessment, product development, working with solar installers and developers, underwriting and deal structuring, and program and asset management. We will include... Read more
This year has certainly tested bank executives' ability to manage during a crisis. Apart from dealing with the myriad of business challenges thrown at them by the coronavirus pandemic, they are trying to maintain morale of employees, many of whom are working remotely and coping with stresses of their own. This year American Banker asked executives at the 85 institutions that make up our ranking of the Best Banks to Work For to reveal how they have kept employees engaged and motivated in this most difficult of years. Included on this list are FNBC Bank, BankPlus, and United Bank. ... Read more
Last month, Bank of America announced that it had completed 10 new equity investments as part of its 4-year $1 billion commitment to advance racial equality in economic opportunity. Of BoA's 10 equity investments, 6 were to CDBA member banks: Carver State Bank, Carver Federal Savings Bank, First Independence Bank, M&F Bank, Southern Bancorp, and Optus Bank. These investments will facilitate benefits across multiple states and in the communities that these institutions serve through lending, housing, neighborhood revitalization, and other banking services.
A community development bank in Arkadelphia, Ark., that raised nearly $35 million could be a model for a growing number of similar banks scrounging for capital to meet the needs of consumers and small businesses in struggling neighborhoods. Central to the strategy of the $1.6 billion-asset Southern Bancorp is a heavy emphasis on returning capital to investors through regular dividends and a stock repurchase program. "There's patient capital, but patient shouldn't mean permanent," CEO Darrin Williams said in an interview after the bank recently published a paper about its successful capital... Read more
The proportion of U.S. households without access to a bank account fell in recent years but could be driven up again by the coronavirus pandemic, according to a survey released Monday by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The so-called unbanked rate declined to 5.4% in 2019 from 6.5% in 2017, as some 1.5 million households saw at least one member open a checking or savings account, the FDIC said in the biennial report. That rate represents the lowest level since at least 2009, when the survey began. Most of the decline reflected improvement in the circumstances of households that didn’... Read more
Pressure is mounting on banks to offer low-cost accounts that could help bring more unbanked households into the financial mainstream. On October 19, both the American Bankers Association and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. called on banks that do not already offer accounts designed for previously unbanked consumers to start doing so. The basic accounts cost $10 or less per month and they usually do not come with paper checks, and don't charge fees for either overdrafts or low balances. JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America and Wells Fargo are among more than 40 banks that offer... Read more
The FDIC recognizes that MDIs play a unique role in promoting economic viability in minority and low- and moderate-income communities. Preserving, promoting, and building capacity in these institutions are high priorities for the FDIC. Because of this, the FDIC created "Investing in the Future of Mission-Driven Banks" as a way for private companies, philanthropic organizations, and others to learn more about the vital role of these financial institutions, and to provide suggestions about supporting MDIs and CDFI banks across the country through investments or partnership opportunities.
Hundreds of thousands of small businesses are closing for good. Temporary layoffs at larger companies are becoming permanent. But the country's largest banks, which together serve a majority of Americans through loans, credit cards or deposit services, are not raising an alarm. In their third-quarter earnings reports this week, big banks have said they are generally prepared for a wave of loan defaults they expect in the second half of next year. And their own fortunes are just fine: A trading and investment banking bonanza on Wall Street is helping them stay profitable. A few common... Read more
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Wednesday that he did not expect an economic relief package to be enacted before the Nov. 3 election, as he and Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California have continued to struggle to reach an agreement on a broad package to support the economy. Negotiators on Wednesday resumed discussions over a coronavirus relief package, even though Democrats and Republicans remain wildly divided over the scope and size of another stimulus bill. The Treasury secretary suggested that the gap on the top-line cost of the bill was not that wide, but that the... Read more
Amalgamated Bank yesterday announced that Keith Mestrich has informed the Board of Directors that he will step down from his positions as President and Chief Executive Officer on January 31, 2021. At that time, he will transition from a director to special advisor to the Board through July 2021. Mr. Mestrich joined Amalgamated Bank in 2012 and has served as its President and Chief Executive Officer since 2014. The Board has formed a Search Committee comprised of Lynne Fox, Chair of the Board, and four independent directors to oversee a national search process for a new CEO.
Kat Taylor started a bank, a venture capital firm and an agribusiness to use capitalism’s toolbox to fight systemic racism, environmental destruction and economic inequality. Way back in 2007 (the stone age in impact investing), Taylor and Steyer launched an idea they’d talked about for years: use a charitable foundation to start a bank that would lend to nonprofits and do-gooder businesses and direct its profits back to their environmental and community charitable causes. With Taylor as CEO, Beneficial State Bank has grown into a $1.1 billion institution with 13 branches stretching... Read more
Consumers on the prowl for higher rates on their savings or more places to spread out their cash have a few shortcuts. Now there’s a new competitor to these savings account rate finders: the German fintech Deposit Solutions. Through SaveBetter.com, an online portal that marks Deposit Solutions’ first foray into the U.S., consumers can shop offerings from a variety of banks. They can open one or more savings accounts from the available banks, with certificates of deposit expected to be available by the end of the year, but manage them all through a single SaveBetter account. “For Central... Read more
A two-track recovery is emerging from the country's pandemic-driven economiccontraction. Some workers, companies and regions show signs of coming out fine or evenstronger. The rest are mired in a deep decline with an uncertain path ahead. Just months ago, economists were predicting a V-shaped recovery—a rapid rebound froma steep fall—or a U-shaped path—a prolonged downturn before healing began. What has developed is more like a K. On the upper arm of the K are well-educated andwell-off people, businesses tied to the digital economy or supplying domestic necessities,and regions such as tech... Read more
The Economic Mobility Corps (EMC) is a joint initiative of the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) and AmeriCorps that places full-time national service members in Certified Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) to enhance their capacity to provide financial literacy, financial planning, budgeting, saving, and other financial counseling activities. Economic Mobility Corps members placed in Certified CDFIs will receive training on the principles of financial counseling and financial literacy and assist CDFIs in promoting access to capital and credit... Read more
The Senate on Wednesday passed a short-term funding bill just hours before the deadline to prevent a government shutdown. Senators voted 84 to 10 to keep the government funded at current levels through Dec. 11, setting up another funding fight after the November elections and right before the holidays. The funding bill, passed by the House earlier this month, now heads to President Trump's desk, where he is expected to sign it before midnight to keep the government running.
A new House Democratic economic stimulus plan would funnel billions of dollars to Community Development Financial Institutions, reauthorize the Paycheck Protection Program and allow marijuana banking. Those are just some of the provisions contained in the 2,153-page bill, which has formed the basis for renewed negotiations between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. The Democratic bill also calls for $1 billion for CDFIs for financial support and technical assistance, and a $2 billion “emergency appropriation” for the institutions, as well as up to... Read more