Recent News
Carver Federal Savings Bank has announced a $50,000 donation to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a leading national research library devoted to collecting, preserving and providing access to resources documenting the experiences of people of African descent. Carver’s gift will support enrichment activities for young students, empowering 125 Junior Scholars in their academic and professional careers. “Carver is a long-standing supporter of arts and culture in the community and has a long history of working with local cultural institutions. We are pleased... Read more
Chicago-based Urban Partnership Bank is seeking to sell 1,561 mainly residential loans in Chicago's South and West sides originated by its predecessor, ShoreBank. The loan package totals $154 million, with most of it dedicated to single-family homes. The average loan size is less than $99,000. According to market insiders, the size of the portfolio should spark investor interest despite the economic woes afflicting the neighborhoods Urban Partnership serves. “We are confident FFN will help source buyers with strong servicing capabilities," the bank said in a statement. "... Read more
The FDIC is planning to make cybersecurity a higher priority during bank exams as early as the second quarter of next year. Under the new program, cybersecurity will become its own separate issue in examination comments. "The new program includes enhancements to specifically address cybersecurity elements," said Mark Moylan, deputy director at the FDIC's office of risk management supervision. Regulators want to ensure that there is an understanding of "cyber risk as it overlays into business decisions that you make at the board level," Moylan said. Moylan also warned that if an institution... Read more
Guaranty Bank and Trust Company and First Security Bank are teaming up with FHLB Dallas to support Panola Habitat for Humanity with a $24,000 Partnership Grant Program award. The funds will be used to hire additional fundraising staff and to help community members move into homes of their own. Without the funds, the Panola Habitat would have had to merge with an affiliate in another location. "Our operation is small at the moment, but we have big plans for the upcoming year," said Connie Hawkins, president of the Panola Habitat for Humanity and CFO,... Read more
Columbus-Lowndes Habitat for Humanity has received a $12,000 Partnership Grant Program award from BankFirst Financial Services and FHLB Dallas. The award will fund upgrades a new building for Habitat which will house offices and a Habitat ReStore. The ReStore is a donation center where the community may donate used furniture, appliances and building materials, which are resold at discounted prices. Proceeds fund future Habitat projects. "Without the grant, they would have had to use their capital to make necessary updates to their new building," said BankFirst Financial... Read more
Stephen Green, vice president and market manager at Albina Community Bank, has been named the 2015 Portland Business Journal Small Business Advocate of the Year. Green participates in an array of local organizations including the Black United Fund of Oregon, the Housing Development Center and the Portland Development Commission, where he concentrated on assisting small, early-stage companies and nonprofits. Green has a reputation as a tough business coach who pushes entrepreneurs to reach their potential. “Oftentimes, for the people I’m working with, it’s the first time... Read more
RiverHills Bank and FHLB Dallas has extended a HAVEN grant to Steve Williams, an Iraq War veteran who served with the U.S. Navy. HAVEN is a unique grant program that targets income-qualified veterans and active duty service members who have been disabled in the line of duty since September 11, 2001. It provides grants up to $7,500 to support necessary home modifications. Mr. Williams injured his back during his Iraq deployment while placing concrete T-walls — large concrete slabs used as protection around the perimeter of buildings. "We're so excited to have been involved... Read more
Financial institutions face increased risk of cyber attacks that involve extortion, the FFIEC has warned. During an extortion attack, cyber criminals use a variety of tactics including ransomware, denial of service (DoS) and theft of sensitive information to extort payment or other concessions from victims. Often, an extortion attack encrypts the data on the target machine, making data inaccessible. The victim is then prompted to make a payment in order to release or unlock the files. In some cases, these attacks have caused significant impacts on businesses’ access to data and ability to... Read more
Beneficial State Bancorp's new office building, Framework, has received a $1.5 million award from the U.S. Tall Wood Building Prize Competition, sponsored by the USDA Softwood Lumber Board and the Binational Softwood Lumber Council. The building, anticipated to be one of the first tall timber structures in the United States, is designed to promote sustainable urban ecology by promoting social justice, sustainable building and economic opportunity. The designers hope the building will pave the way for more wooden high-rises, creating demand for Oregon’s local lumber harvest... Read more
Bank consolidation may have the strongest yearly showing in 2015 since the financial crisis. The banking industry agreed to 34 deals in October collectively valued at $8.2 billion, marking the best single month for M&A this year. Those deals boasted an average premium of 152% of tangible book value. While M&A has largely been dominated by small banks in recent years, some large institutions may begin looking into M&A. Since January 2014, banks have agreed to 11 deals valued at more than $500 million. The heightened activity comes as many bankers revisit the notion of building... Read more
By inserting individual arbitration clauses into a soaring number of consumer and employment contracts, corporations are increasingly circumventing the courts and barring people from joining together in class-action lawsuits. Over the last few years, it has become increasingly difficult to apply for a credit card, use a cellphone, get cable or Internet service, or access an array of services without agreeing to private arbitration. More than a decade in the making, the move to block class actions was engineered by a coalition of credit card companies and retailers who said that class... Read more
Ridgeland, Miss.-based BankPlus is the winner of the American Bankers Association Community Commitment Award in the Nontraditional Borrower and Underbanked category. BankPlus was honored for turning people who thought a bank loan or checking account was beyond their reach into customers. Their CreditPlus product provides borrowers a small-dollar, short-term loan designed as an alternative to payday loans. Since launching CreditPlus in 2008, BankPlus has signed up 22,223 unbanked or underbanked Mississippians who attended one of 642 money-management sessions. "What’s great... Read more
Construction financing from Virginia Community Capital will facilitate the renovation of a historic department store building in Petersburg, Va. into a mixed use building featuring artist studios, gallery space, mixed-income housing and commercial storefronts. The Butterworth Flats will include 45 mixed-income apartments, a majority serving incomes of less than 80 percent of area median income and a commercial storefront. “VCC was delighted to help this important downtown Petersburg project come to life,” said VCC Senior Loan Officer, Dawn DeHart. “The downtown area should... Read more
CDBA member Beneficial State Bank, based in Oakland, Calif., was named the winner of this year’s Promontory Empowerment Awards in the CDFI Banking category. The Empowerment Awards recognize innovative programs that provide or encourage safe, fair financial services in underserved communities. All of the finalists in the CDFI banking category were CDBA members, including BankPlus, Carver Federal Savings Bank and Southern Bancorp. The Empowerment Awards are sponsored by Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm Promontory... Read more
The CDFI Fund has opened the 2015 round of the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) Program, making available up to $5 billion in tax credit allocation authority. The NMTC Program spurs investment of private sector capital into distressed communities by providing a tax credit to corporate or individual taxpayers who make qualified equity investments in designated Community Development Entities (CDEs). The CDEs, in turn, invest the capital raised into projects and businesses in low-income communities. The deadline for submission will be Wednesday, December 16, 2015. The CDFI Fund will also be... Read more
A technical problem blocked account access for holders of one of the most popular prepaid cards, RushCard. RushCard’s problems started over the Columbus Day weekend, when it switched from one processing technology provider to another. Customers reported problems gaining access to their funds, swamping the company’s telephone service center and website. RushCard, founded in 2003 by the hip-hop impresario Russell Simmons, said on Tuesday that the problem had been mostly fixed. But thousands continued to experience difficulties. RushCard has been criticized previously for charging its largely... Read more
A new report by the GIIN and the Carsey School of Public Policy provides an overview of the U.S. Community Investing field: the types of intermediary organizations raising investments, the range of available investment products and the types of investors active in the space. The principal challenge facing CDFI banks, the authors write, is the lack of liquidity of equity investments. CDFI bank stocks are generally not publicly traded and few mission-driven banks who have publicly offered stock have been able to continue as independent entities. As a result, investors must generally hold on... Read more
In the Deep South, shriveling job prospects for the high-school-educated and scant state support for the poor have combined with more timeworn social problems to diminish the chances of a middle-class life for somebody born into poverty. In Mississippi, the 86 members of Ruleville Central’s senior class attended a school given an F grade by the state. Some new graduates went off to local colleges. Others lacked money or test scores. One turned down an offer from his dream school because of the cost. The school’s guidance counselor said she can count on her hand the ones who will finish... Read more
The CFPB has finalized a rule that will require new fields to be submitted for the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). The rule is intended to shed more light on consumers’ access to mortgage credit with new data including the property value, term of the loan, and the duration of any teaser or introductory interest rates. Financial institutions will be required to provide more information about mortgage loan underwriting and pricing, such as an applicant’s debt-to-income ratio, the interest rate of the loan and the discount points charged for the loan. Some small financial institutions... Read more
The CFPB backed off some of its initial plans in its final rule requiring lenders to collect more data from mortgage borrowers, but industry representatives warned the agency had not gone far enough. Though the agency dropped some datasets it initially proposed to collect last year, some lenders said the final rule was still going to be overly burdensome, particularly for smaller institutions. There also remain privacy concerns from both industry and consumer groups. Lenders must now report the address of the home, which could pose additional risks. "The CFPB's final rule [adds] to the... Read more