Recent News
A postal reform bill that passed Congress this week could offer another opportunity to install a postal banking system in the United States, according to a review by the Prospect. While the $107 billion in savings from ending the Postal Service's prefunding of retirement benefits and moving postal retirees onto Medicare has received most of the headlines, Section 103 of the bill, subsection 3704, restates USPS authority to partner to "provide property and nonpostal services" to federal government agencies, as long as whatever results raises revenue for the Postal Service. This would appear... Read more
The Board of Directors of National Cooperative Bank (NCB) is pleased to announce the appointment of Casey Fannon as the bank's new Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Fannon has been serving as the Acting CEO of NCB since the sudden death of the bank's former CEO, Chuck Snyder, in November. "The Board of Directors is pleased to announce that we have unanimously approved Casey Fannon as NCB's Chief Executive Officer effectively immediately," stated Debra Huddleston, Chair of NCB's Board of Directors. "In his 25 years at the bank, Casey... Read more
Misperceptions of risk among many lenders make Black-owned small businesses twice as likely to get rejected for bank loans as white-owned small businesses. A new fund raised by the Expanding Black Business Credit Network aims to shift the narrative. The Black-led consortium of community development financial institutions, or CDFIs, has raised $29 million for the Black Vision Fund to increase the amount of capital available for lending by its members. The goal: reduce the racial wealth gap. The loans will be underwritten by community lenders including Jackson, Miss.-based Hope Credit Union... Read more
Andy Anderson has been with the Bank of Anguilla since 1983. He is now the CEO and President of the very bank that foreclosed on the house in which he and his mother lived when he was a child after his parents divorced. This is but one fascinating story found throughout Anderson's career and also one that demonstrates how far the bank has come and speaks to its' mission and purpose today. "We try to lend to people that other banks might not even talk to, primarily because of where we live and the fact that we know everyone in the area. Certainly you have to say ‘No’ sometimes, but we... Read more
Days ago, the Detroit-based First Independent Bank (FIB) opened for business at the former Wells Fargo bank branch located at 3430 University Avenue S.E. The bank's chairman and CEO, Kenneth Kelly, noted in a press release that the University Avenue branch is "located in the community where it is visible and accessible to all in the Twin Cities... We look at the fact that it is close to the Metro Green Line and bus routes so that under-resourced and unbanked members of the community can easily reach us and use our services to improve their financial outlook." FIB, one of the 17 Black-owned... Read more
Federal banking regulators are expected to issue a long-awaited proposal for modernizing requirements under the Community Reinvestment Act as early as this month, officials said Monday. The Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency plan to issue a joint revamp of the anti-redlining law after years of interagency tension over the issue during the Trump administration. Last year, acting Comptroller Michal Hsu rescinded a breakaway rule change made in 2020 under former Comptroller Joseph Otting that had for the first time created a... Read more
Low-income, less-educated, and minority households are less likely to have bank accounts—which are essential for households' financial well-being. People have cited high fees, minimum balance requirements, and other reasons why they don't have bank accounts. Federal agencies have worked to increase banking access. For example, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation piloted a public awareness campaign on the benefits of bank accounts. Are these agencies' efforts working? Many of the agencies don't know—so we recommended developing performance measures for these efforts to help determine... Read more
Low-income, less-educated, and minority households are less likely to have bank accounts—which are essential for households' financial well-being. People have cited high fees, minimum balance requirements, and other reasons why they don't have bank accounts. Federal agencies have worked to increase banking access. For example, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation piloted a public awareness campaign on the benefits of bank accounts. Are these agencies' efforts working? Many of the agencies don't know—so we recommended developing performance measures for these efforts to help determine... Read more
Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury launched a historic demographic information collection effort to measure equity outcomes for small businesses supported by the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) program. The information collected by Treasury will support the program's commitment to expanding access to capital for businesses owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals (SEDI businesses). The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 included $10 billion for SSBCI to provide to states, the District of Columbia, territories, and Tribal governments... Read more
Savannah's Carver State Bank celebrated a huge milestone this weekend - its 95th anniversary! To mark the special occasion, they showed a documentary called Financial Freedom for All: Robert James and Carver State Bank. The film honors and recognizes the bank's President and CEO, Robert James, who began his career at the bank in 1971. 50 years later, he is the longest tenured Black bank president in the country. "We are proud of the fact that we have survived through all of the difficulties that financial institutions have had over the years. All the changes and the technologies and... Read more
OneUnited Bank, the largest Black owned bank, announces the opening of its new state of the art branch in Compton, California on February 28, 2022. The Bank is excited to honor its roots and renew its long-term commitment to the City of Compton. OneUnited Bank was forced to close its Compton branch in March 2020 after its landlord refused to renew its long-term lease to open a national chain sneaker store. Like many Black owned businesses that are displaced due to gentrification, the Bank was forced to either permanently close or relocate. Although the Bank considered permanently closing... Read more
The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (hereafter, the agencies) are issuing an interagency statement to remind creditors of the ability under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and Regulation B to establish special purpose credit... Read more
It took more than a decade for Southern Bancorp Bank to double its tally of total assets from $1 billion to $2 billion. The top executive of the bank's parent company expects the journey to $4 billion will be much shorter. "With the amount of capital we're going to receive, we will double in size during the next three to five years," said Darrin Williams, CEO of Southern Bancorp Inc. A big catalyst for that future growth is a $237.5 million injection courtesy of the U.S. Treasury's Emergency Capital Investment Program. The money isn't in the bank but is expected to arrive in the second or... Read more
What does a zero carbon, climate-focused community bank look like? FinTech Futures spoke to Climate First Bank's founder, Ken LaRoe, and CTO, Marcio deOliveira, about the US entrant's ethos, technology, and plans, including its mixed views on fintechs. The climate crisis is only too apparent in Climate First Bank’s home state of Florida, with the threat of ever increasing storms and super-charged hurricanes, sea level rises, and record-breaking heat days, among other climate impacts. The bank claims to have been carbon neutral since day one, commits to never investing in extractive... Read more
LOCUS is seeking a Senior Analyst to join its growing Investment Advisory team. LOCUS is a national organization with staff in Colorado, Georgia, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. This position is remote/home-office-based with limited travel related to team gatherings and/or client visits. LOCUS' Investment Advisory team provides services that enable its clients to make effective and efficient impact investments, including fund design & development, investment sourcing & evaluation, and portfolio management & servicing. This Senior Analyst will... Read more
Unions are rare in financial services, but there are exceptions, including Amalgamated Bank in New York, which was founded by a labor union in 1923. The $870 million-asset Bank of Labor in Kansas City, Kansas, was founded by a labor union in 1924 and has been affiliated with the United Mine Workers of America since August 2011. A more recent example is Beneficial State Bank in Oakland, California, where employees voted to form a union in March 2020 after CWA representatives approached the $1.5 billion-asset bank’s executives about the possibility of forming a labor organization for staff... Read more
Why minority professionals are often directed to community development jobs, rather than the more lucrative commercial real estate and private-equity fields. Community development has provided good-paying jobs to minority professionals at banks and nonprofits, such as CDFIs. But can it build broader breakout generational wealth, which is mostly possible at the developer level? And are there even enough people of color in those developer ranks to carry out the work? With access to capital such an impediment, large numbers of minority developers and entrepreneurs aren't lining up to rebuild... Read more
Banks that operate more like fintechs outcompete their more traditional competitors on certain financial products, researchers at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. found. The study used a new measure of technology adoption at banks to look at Paycheck Protection Program loan volumes in the second quarter of 2020. Banks in the top 15% for tech adoption made more loans than similarly sized competitors by 9 percentage points — and they gained customers outside their usual markets more often, the data showed. The findings prove the importance for community banks of adopting technologies... Read more
Can a social media site help stanch the flow of community banks selling themselves? Independent Bankers Association of Texas President and CEO Christopher Williston thinks his group's Bankers Helping Bankers service just might. The IBAT is pitching Bankers Helping Bankers, which matches banks with similar technology profiles, to other trade groups, primarily state associations like itself that are affiliated with the Independent Community Bankers of America. It aims to make Bankers Helping Bankers available to every community bank in the country. "We can unabashedly, unequivocally say we... Read more
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Acting Chairman Martin J. Gruenberg released last week the following statement and summary of the FDIC's priorities for the coming year: "The FDIC's core mission is to maintain stability and public confidence in the U.S. financial system. The FDIC carries out this mission through its responsibilities for deposit insurance, banking supervision, and the orderly resolution of failed banks, including systemically important financial institutions. Banking supervision encompasses safety and soundness and consumer protection, both of which are... Read more