CDFIs

Native American reservations have some of the country's highest concentrations of unbanked households. But tribes are finding ways to get their members access to capital — with or without banks.

The Treasury Department is awarding $1.25 billion to 863 community development financial institutions through the Rapid Response Program, which allows banks and credit unions to earmark funds for mortgages and business loans in underserved markets.

The Biden administration will award $1.25 billion to hundreds of community lenders in an effort to speed the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, Vice President Kamala Harris will announce on Tuesday.

The funding requests break sharply with the Trump administration's calls to eliminate key housing funds and backing for community development financial institutions. The White House also wants to substantially increase the budgets of the Treasury Department and the Small Business Administration.

The U.S. unit of Toronto-Dominion Bank plans to invest in CDFIs and specialized funds that serve Black, Hispanic and other diverse business owners in its East Coast territory.

The Treasury secretary previewed President Biden's budget by urging lawmakers to fund the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's establishment of a beneficial ownership regime.

Instead of injecting cash into Commonwealth National Bank, Regions Bank is taking a more targeted approach: providing funding for the community development financial institution to hire a commercial banker.

The investment, tied to PNC's deal to acquire BBVA USA, was always going to be large but seemed to grow as CEO Bill Demchak got intimately involved in the discussions and the needs of communities and businesses hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic became more apparent.

With Congress pouring billions into a new grant program and state-based lending initiatives, community development financial institutions say they can move past survival mode to test new products and partner with larger financial institutions.

Changes to CDFI Fund regulations could make it significantly easier to raise the capital required to get a new institution off the ground.

The backing from the Emergency Capital Investment Fund is meant to help financial institutions direct aid to lower-income communities struggling in the pandemic.

Community development financial institutions would reach even more underserved households and business if they had strong relationships with tech firms and national banks. Here's how the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency can foster such partnerships.

Transportation and clean-energy upgrades could create significant new lending opportunities, but some observers fear the government will foot the bill through a special tax on banks and other financial firms.

The pandemic has decimated small businesses, and minority-owned firms have been hurt the most. How can banks and regulators jump-start the small-business economy?

It would force national banks to make loans to high-risk industries that often pose dangers to vulnerable communities. The next comptroller of the currency should instead promote equal credit availability for consumers who need it most.

Southern Bancorp, which recently raised $35 million in capital, agreed to acquire DeWitt First Bankshares, the parent of Arkansas County Bank.

The project will deploy $20 million as secondary capital to expand economic relief and financial inclusion, and follows a $1 million project last summer aimed at helping low-income consumers in Rust Belt cities.

The two groups have launched a new effort to promote the benefits of being certified as a community development financial institution.

More lenders and governments should partner with community development financial institutions to ensure aid reaches minority-owned businesses that are the backbone of many neighborhoods slammed by the coronavirus.

More lenders and governments should partner with community development financial institutions to ensure aid reaches minority-owned businesses that are the backbone of many neighborhoods slammed by the coronavirus.