Recent News
In this article, the American Banker discusses how OneUnited Bank in Boston has a plan to remain relevant while continuing to press for social justice. The nation's biggest black-owned bank has adopted a business model aimed at becoming a digitally-focused retail bank. It has scaled back its physical operations, closing a pair of branches in Los Angeles last year. It has also added thousands of ATMs that customers can access without a fee, and it plans to add Apple Pay to its menu of online services. The strategic shift comes at a critical time.
All Albina Community Bank branches are set to convert to Beneficial State Bank branches on February 1, 2018, after the two banks announced regulatory approval of their merger this week. Beneficial State, headquartered in Oakland, California, has owned a majority share of Albina in 2013, which it acquired in an effort to help stabilize the Portland-based bank after a period of industry turbulence. Three Albina members will join the Beneficial State board.
If Congress succeeds in passing regulatory relief, consumers in rural areas could soon find it easier to open accounts at banks and credit unions. Under a provision tucked into the Senate version of a regulatory relief bill that passed out of committee last week, financial institutions would be able to use a scan of a customer's driver's license or other photo identification to verify that person's identity when opening an account online. The Making Online Banking Initiation Legal and Easy, or MOBILE, Act, is intended to address a patchwork of state-level restrictions concerning how state-... Read more
This week, CDBA CEO Jeannine Jacokes contributed an op-ed to the American Banker urging that Congress preserve New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) funding in 2018-2019. The article provides examples of improved healthcare access and expanded manufacturing manufacturing capacity through NMTC. “Decades of community development experience have proven that tax breaks alone are simply inadequate to spur economic activity in the most distressed places,” Jacokes wrote. “If they don’t preserve the NMTC,... Read more
Today the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) approved Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's Underserved Markets Plans for 2018-2020. Under the Duty to Serve (DTS) program, the FHFA required each Enterprise to adopt a three-year Underserved Markets Plan that aims to increase the liquidity of mortgage financing to families with very low to moderate incomes in three underserved markets: rural housing; manufactured housing; and affordable housing preservation markets.
If you live in rural America and have a heart attack — or stroke — you may be in really big trouble. Over 30 million Americans live more than an hour's drive from a trauma center and an estimated 673 rural hospitals are at risk of closure, exemplifying a nationwide trend that threatens rural health care access. Yet an amazing thing happened at Monroe County Hospital in Monroeville, Ala. In 2017, it received a $6 million capital injection to renovate and expand its emergency room and oncology department thanks to a small, but potently impactful, federal program called the New Markets Tax... Read more
The Distressed Communities Index (DCI) combines seven complementary metrics into a broad-based assessment of community economic well-being in the United States. The 2017 DCI finds that 52.3 million Americans live in economically distressed communities, with over half residing in the South. Distressed communities exist in red states and blue states: 36.4 million constituents inside distressed zip codes are represented by the Republican party at multiple governments, and 16 million constituents inside distressed zip codes are represented by the Democratic party.
The Community Investment Explorer is a new tool to analyze community development transactions over the past 30 years. The data, sortable by year, investment purpose, and metropolitan area, comes from 3 sources: the work of CDFIs, New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC), and Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC). "We know there [are] a lot of groups, be it affordable housing, developers, CDFIs, tax credit investors, in addition to policymakers, interested in this information and to see the stories this data tells," said a community development specialist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Darrin Williams, CEO of Southern Bancorp, was recently interviewed on the Your Mark on the World Podcast, and the footage is featured on Forbes. Williams discussed his bank's mission and strategy, saying, "Often our competition is not another bank; [it is] a payday lender or pawn shop, or someone who provides alternative forms of capital or credit that really strip wealth. So we really do a lot of outreach. We don't wait for people to come to the bank. We take the bank to them."
American Banker takes a look at the challenges facing the nation's black-run banks, including Carver Federal Savings Bank in New York. Many of the top challenges facing Carver are facing other community banks, including rising compliance costs, pressure to scale bank on commercial real estate, and an uphill battle to keep pace with technology. "There have been many, many things that the team and I are proud of, and there's no place I would have wanted to have been for the past five years," Pugh said. "Certainly some things I wish would have had a different outcome, but the journey... Read more
The First, A National Banking Association, has agreed to buy Sunshine Financial in Tallahassee, FL. The First will pay $32.1 million in cash and stock for the $194 million-asset parent of Sunshine Community Bank. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2018. The acquisition will provide the First with five branches in Tallahassee. "Sunshine is well-known in Tallahassee as a customer-focused organization that delivers exemplary service," said The First CEO Hoppy Cole. "Tallahassee is ... a natural extension of our strategic vision to build market share in the Florida... Read more
Senatobia, a town 8,000 in the Mississippi Delta, is on the rise. This article highlights the beneficial presence of Sycamore Bank, whose main branch is located in Senatobia. "Even though we are a community bank, we offer a full suite of financial services that compete with anyone, even the megabanks," said CEO Jay Tindall. "And unlike the megabanks, all our decisions are made locally and by the people that greet you when you walk in the door."
The House of Representatives has passed a tax bill that would do away with the New Markets Tax Credit next year. Banks and other proponents have urged Congress to make the NMTC permanent, as it spurs economic development in low-income communities nationwide by awarding roughly $3.5 billion in annual tax credits to investors in commercial developments.
This article features Sunrise Banks' innovative approach to banking underserved customers. CEO David Reilling is interviewed about how Sunrise Banks was founded, where it is headed, and how he built the brand from the inside out. "The key is to meet customers where they are at, whether it's on Facebook or at the local coffee shop," he said. "In the end, it's all about developing a trusted relationship."
On November 6, 2017 the US House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee began the markup of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. If passed, this legislation as currently drafted would effectively eliminate the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) Program, which has been widely recognized as one of the most effective Federal programs to create jobs and promote small business in distressed rural and urban communities. The NMTC Program works to break the cycle of disinvestment in low-income communities by attracting the private investment necessary to reinvigorate struggling local economies. For... Read more
Philadelphia's only black-owned bank, United Bank of Philadelphia, is celebrating 25 years of serving its community. Evelyn Smalls, President and CEO, said, "Our fundamental goal is to see businesses grow and succeed. A lot of businesses do start in this region, but I think there is still a fair number of them that don't survive over three to five years. So we are really focused on the sustainability of these businesses: that they can continue to grow and be strong supporters in the economy."
Nine organizations in Minden, LA have teamed up on a project known as The Collaboration, which will seek to help entrepreneurs start and grow their small businesses. It will also foster development of existing companies. The Louisiana Economic Development office has changed its small business lending criteria to enable more widespread eligibility for state loans. Through The Collaboration, banks will be more inclined to lend to startup businesses.
The Huffington Post examines the Beneficial State Bank and Beneficial State Foundation as an alternative banking model with a large societal benefit. CEO Kat Taylor said in an interview, "You have to have a model that cares as much about environmental and social capital as it does about financial capital. Only within a community of practice like this can we create the muscle memory to do that, and to make the combined effort to monitor outcomes that will tell us whether we are doing that or not."
The new First Southwest Bank Center for Economic Opportunity at Adams State University will open its doors in January 2018, and it focused on community-based strategic planning and trainings to promote local business startups and improve job creation and retention. "We're excited about the future opportunities for business growth in the San Luis Valley, a place with unique heritage and incredible people," said Kent Curtis, CEO of First Southwest Bank. "And First Southwest Bank is truly committed to building more small businesses, networks, and opportunities for our rural Colorado community... Read more
This report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia summarizes innovative activities from banks' Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) performance evaluations in the areas of job creation, education and workforce development, and transportation and affordable housing. It also examines potential mechanisms through which the CRA could help promote economic prosperity and alleviate poverty in the process of channeling capital into low- and moderate-income communities.