Recent News
Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas could see an increase in job growth through a new, $1 million grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to San Antonio-based LiftFund, over $200,000 of which will go to Communities Unlimited and Southern Bancorp Capital Partners. The grant will benefit the Delta Community Capital Initiative, a program designed to stimulate job growth and produce more affordable housing and business opportunities to the chronically underserved and undercapitalized Lower Mississippi River Delta Region. The... Read more
United Bank of Atmore, Ala. is encouraging consumers and small business owners to bank locally in recognition of Community Banking Month. “By shopping local and banking locally with United Bank, customers can make a real difference in the lives of their neighbors and the future of their community,” said Bob Jones, president and CEO of United Bank. “The loans we make help businesses grow and farmers and families be successful.” United Bank will also celebrate community banking throughout the spring as a sponsor of a number of local community events and by supporting... Read more
Bankers from three CDBA member banks and one other CDFI bank have been elected to leadership positions on the board of the Mississippi Bankers Association. Kent Mortimer, senior vice president/credit officer at Bank of Kilmichael, has been elected vice president. Jerome Brown, senior vice president and director of community development for The First, A National Banking Association in Hattiesburg, has been elected to the executive council. Adam Cox, community bank president with BankFirst Financial Services in Madison, has been elected to... Read more
A special issue of The Journal of Consumer Affairs examines the effect of financial education programs on the financial inclusion and well-being of children. Contributors find that even children as young as three years old can benefit from financial education, which might be as simple as teaching children the value of delayed... Read more
Industrial Bank President and CEO Doyle Mitchell won the National Newspaper Publishers Association Torch Award for Business, an award that honors black business leaders. Industrial Bank, which was founded in 1934 in Washington, D.C., is the only remaining African American-owned institution of its kind in the district. “Our service and our staff are better because we sincerely care about our customers more than other banks do,” said Mitchell. “And that’s pretty obvious, given what happened in the economy in the last five years. Clearly mortgage bankers and a lot of other... Read more
Millions of Americans unable to obtain credit cards, mortgages and auto loans from banks will receive a boost with the launch of a new credit score from Fair Isaac Corp. (FICO) aimed at risky consumers. The new metric is currently being tested in a pilot phase with credit-card issuers, but is set to be announced as soon as this week and rolled out nationwide by year’s end. The new score will be calculated based on consumers’ payment history with their cable, cellphone, electric and gas bills, as well as how often they change addresses and other factors. Fair Isaac said it hopes to make as... Read more
Beneficial State Bank appears poised for expansion after making several new hires and opening a new loan production office in Santa Rosa, California. The bank has recruited Scott Affens as Senior Vice President, Multifamily Division Head to lead the office’s expanded multifamily housing lending. Beneficial State Bancorp will also hire Jennifer Finger as Executive Vice President of Strategy and Development. “Jennifer brings with her a wealth of experience having presided over multiple M&A transactions... Read more
Representatives of 38 community development banks from across the Mid-South convened in Mississippi last Friday for an orientation event on Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund programming. The meeting, held at the BankPlus Training Center in Ridgeland, Mississippi, was hosted jointly by the Community Development Bankers Association (CDBA), Southern Bancorp, BankPlus, United Bank and Guaranty Bank.
The Mid-South region, including Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, has seen a rapid increase in the number of banks that have received CDFI... Read more
The CFPB has outlined their first draft of regulations to rein in payday loans. The proposal gives lenders two underwriting options designed to limit unsustainable debt. Under the first option, the lender would need to verify customers’ ability to repay by assessing income, other financial obligations and borrowing history. Under the second option, the lender would forgo those checks and accept safety limits on the loan products, including a $500 cap on loan size. Under this option, lenders would also be prohibited from rolling over loans more than two times during a 12-month period. The... Read more
Promontory Financial Group has opened the 2015 round of its Empowerment Awards, a program designed to recognize and support projects that increase access to responsible banking services in underserved communities. The awards will be offered in two categories: the Community Development Banking category aimed at certified CDFI banks, and the Access category aimed at CDFIs, nonprofit organizations and small to midsize entrepreneurs. Each winner will receive a financial award of $100,000 and pro bono consultations with Promontory. Information about the Empowerment Awards and application... Read more
The House Financial Services Committee approved 11 regulatory reform bills for community banks and credit unions last week with bipartisan support. The legislative package includes bills intended to streamline privacy notifications and check-clearing as well as a measure to keep privileged information shared between state and federal regulators confidential. The panel also passed bills that would refigure how the CFPB calculates certain points and fees under its "qualified mortgage" rule, require the CFPB to hold open meetings, create a small business advisory board at the... Read more
Special Needs Assistance Program (SNAP) grants from BankPlus and FHLB Dallas are helping income-qualified special needs homeowners pay for home repairs. Jenice Luckett, 60, had been living on disability after suffering an injury to her back. She didn't have enough money to repair a roof so leaky that her grandchildren would joke it was raining in the living room. A $6,000 SNAP grant from BankPlus and FHLB Dallas allowed Luckett to pay for a new roof. "I am delighted to work with FHLB Dallas each and every year," said Mark Ouellette, first vice president and director of... Read more
According to a report by Pew Charitable Trust, nearly two million American’s spent a total of $3 billion at auto title storefronts across the country to borrow money against the value of their cars. Predatory auto loans can be even more dangerous than payday loans because they are much larger; the typical auto title loan averages $1,000 and comes with an annual percentage rate of about 300%. The typical auto title loan represents nearly 50% of a borrower’s gross monthly income. Pew proposes several... Read more
Carver Federal Savings Bank CEO Michael Pugh is making a major push to attract customers back to the 67-year old Harlem institution. For many years, Carver was the bedrock of the neighborhood's business community, one of the only banks that would work with Harlem’s black businesses. But in the post-crisis years, Carver struggled to recover from a portfolio filled with failed subprime loans. To reinvigorate the bank, Mr. Pugh is engaging the community, asking churches and nonprofits to connect it with new customers. Pugh also plans to introduce a new line of business loans... Read more
A bipartisan attempt to regulate payday lenders in South Dakota has been halted, the latest in a series of state-level efforts to be dismantled by payday industry lobbyists. The South Dakota bill was led by conservative state legislator Steve Hickey and former Obama campaigner Steve Hildebrand — ideological opposites unified against predatory lending. Despite being deeply involved in the crafting of the bill, payday industry lobbyists suddenly turned against the effort, which was killed in committee. When Hildebrand and Hickey tried to revive their effort with a ballot initiative, State... Read more
Ross Alan Hill, founder and CEO of Oklahoma City based Bank2, tells a story of hope and redemption in his new book Broken Pieces: Nothing is Wasted. Hill explains that he takes inspiration from Redento Raffinato, a style of blown-glass art in which broken glass fragments are reused to create elegant vases. Hill says that he sees his vase as a spiritual symbol, a physical reminder of redemption in his own life — and of the redemption that is part of Bank2's mission. “We respect our employees, customers, our friends and our... Read more
The House Financial Services Committee has renewed its look at regulatory relief for small financial institutions, pressing bankers and credit union representatives for details about their compliance burdens. “We are losing more than one [community bank] a day and they are not perishing of natural causes,” said Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), chairman of the committee. “The sheer weight, volume, cost, complexity and uncertainty of federal regulation is a burden that is killing them off,” he warned. Although Democrats have said they are wary of any relief that undermines Dodd-Frank and have... Read more
The CDFI Fund is soliciting comments on its evaluation of the Bank Enterprise Award (BEA) Program. The BEA helps banks provide credit and financial services in areas with high poverty. The BEA Program Evaluation assesses the effectiveness of the BEA Program as a mechanism for providing performance-based awards, the influence of the BEA Program on bank behavior and the impact of BEA Program-eligible investments in CDFIs and in distressed communities. The deadline for comment submission is May 18, 2015.
Mission Valley Bancorp plans to close an underused branch in Valencia, California at the end of the month with the intention of replacing it with a new, streamlined “branch of the future” nearby. Chief Executive Tamara Gurney said the decision to close the branch reflects changing technology in the banking industry. “A branch of 4,000-square-feet is probably twice the size of what the branch of the future will look like. Some of them are down to kiosks of 1,000-square-feet now, because we don’t need big vaults and people don’t use safe deposit boxes like they used to,” she... Read more