CDFIs

The Office of Management and Budget has prevented billions of dollars from flowing to community development financial institutions, preventing those funds from supporting housing development.

The CDFI Fund is updating definitions of eligible activity to be considered for the funds, including removing climate-focused financing and references to race and ethnicity.

Community development financial institutions have a long history of providing vital economic lifelines to communities across the country. Credit unions have always been an important part of that story.

The leader of a major credit union trade group takes issue with a recent BankThink article questioning credit unions' ability to operate as federally recognized Community Development Financial Institutions.

Four years after its launch, the Mission Driven Bank Fund has ended its fundraising well short of its original $500 million target. Still, organizers are hopeful that the fund's performance will attract other investors to the sector.

Congress should hold hearings to investigate whether credit unions really qualify to operate as tax-advantaged Community Development Financial Institutions.

The Office of Management and Budget under President Donald Trump has not apportioned any discretionary awards to financial institutions in the fiscal year of 2025, according to new documents released by the agency.

Amid waning federal support for community development financial institutions and minority depository institutions, a program launched by two banking trade groups is beginning to generate a steady stream of deposits for mission-focused lenders.

The CDFI Fund has yet to announce and disburse awards for five programs, even though applications closed months ago, the lawmakers said in a letter to Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought.

BankUnited hires Wells Fargo's James Mackey to be its new chief financial officer; Ponce Bank President and CEO Carlos Naudon is named chairperson of the Community Development Bankers Association; Jefferson Bank announces the retirement of longtime President and CEO Danny Butler; and more in this week's banking news roundup.

Administration of the Community Development Financial Institution Fund at the Treasury Department will be led by the CDFI Fund's legal counsel following the resignation of the fund's director.

Calls for applications for a bank-specific program within the Community Development Financial Institution Fund have been delayed, raising the possibility that those funds are unspent before the appropriated money expires.

The group expressed concern with the White House proposal to reduce the program's funding, and urged Appropriators to fund the bipartisan-backed Community Development Financial Institutions Fund.

Federal Reserve Gov. Michael Barr — who until February served as the agency's top regulator — said community development functions have benefits for the Fed's monetary policy, supervision and research goals.

President Donald Trump's proposed budget would nix funding for Community Development Financial Institutions in minority-heavy areas while expanding it for rural areas.

House Financial Services Committee ranking member Maxine Waters, D-Calif., led a group of Democrats in challenging Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent over the current state of the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund.

The Trump administration's plan to reduce the performance of the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund would sacrifice the United States' most cost-efficient investment in itself.

The Treasury Department told the OMB that all 11 programs in the CDFI Fund are statutorily mandated. The White House said "no final decisions have been made" about the programs.

The bipartisan co-chairs of the Community Financial Development Institution caucus sent a letter urging the Trump administration to continue supporting the CDFI Fund after it was slated for cuts in a recent executive order.

President Donald Trump's executive order severely limiting the Treasury's Community Development Financial Institution Fund has thrown the industry into confusion as financial companies try to quantify the damage.