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Represents
Over $500 Million in Increased Lending In Distressed Communities
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development
Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) announced today the application data
for the fiscal year (FY) 2017 round of its Bank Enterprise Award Program (BEA
Program). A total of 119 applications were
received requesting awards of more than $131.7 million. The award request is over 5.7 times more than
the $23 million available for this round.
These applicants are headquartered in 23 states, and the District of
Columbia.
The purpose of the BEA Program is to focus on the most
severely economically distressed communities by providing an incentive for
FDIC-insured financial institutions to increase their investments in those
communities. Under the program, distressed
communities are defined as census tracts where at least 30 percent of residents
have incomes that are less than the national poverty level and where the
unemployment rate is at least 1.5 times the national unemployment rate.
Applicants must demonstrate increased qualified activities
in the form of investments in Community Development Financial Institutions
(CDFIs) or in the applicants’ lending, investing, or financial service-related
activities in these economically distressed communities. Award amounts are calculated as a percentage
of the increase in qualified activities from one annual reporting period—known
as the “baseline period”— to the next—known as the “assessment period.”
The CDFI Fund required FY 2017 applicants to report total
lending, investment, and service activities for the annual baseline and
assessment reporting periods for all activities that fell within the category
for which an award is being sought, even if the applicant did not demonstrate
an increase or is not seeking an award for a particular activity.
Collectively, during the one-year assessment period (January
1, 2016 – December 31, 2016), these 119 applicants reported lending,
investment, and service activities totaling more than $1.4 billion. This represents an increase of nearly $522.8
million in additional lending, investing and service activities in CDFIs and
severely economically distressed communities over the prior year. These applicants reported:
- an increase in their loans and investments in
distressed communities of $491.6 million;
- an increase in their equity and equity-like
loans and grants to CDFIs of $4.5 million;
- an increase in their loans, deposits, and
technical assistance to CDFIs of $19.4 million; and
- an increase in the provision of financial
services in distressed communities of $7.3 million.
Applications are currently under review and the CDFI Fund
anticipates announcing awards this coming spring.
For more information about the BEA Program,
please view the program Fact Sheet or visit the CDFI Fund’s website at
www.cdfifund.gov/bea.
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