Recent News
Bankers have begun to show cautious interest in a proposal to offer banking services in post office branches after U.S. Postal Service Inspector General David Williams clarified that the plan would be a partnership with banks rather than head-to-head competition. Williams envisions the Postal Service providing a marketplace platform that private-sector financial institutions could use to offer competing prepaid cards and other financial products. "The platform would be open to everyone — banks, credit unions and the credit card industry," he said. But the postal banking concept still faces... Read more
Thirteen Chicago area financial services firms including Urban Partnership Bank have joined together to explore ways to get more black and Latino workers into the industry. Minorities are underrepresented in financial services; more than 90 percent of senior-level staffers at Chicago-area financial services firms are white according to a 2012 survey. In addition to hosting a conference on boosting minority hires, the group is conducting research to identify challenges to hiring black and Latino workers and identifying ways that their hiring can be increased. The group also... Read more
Industrial Bank celebrated its 80th year with a reception featuring a number of Washington, D.C. luminaries. At the celebration, Industrial officials announced the bank is offering five grants totaling $80,000 for new businesses looking to invest in long-term success. Current Washington, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray presented Industrial Bank President and CEO Doyle Mitchell with a proclamation from the city recognizing the bank's service to its communty. Mayor-Elect Muriel Bowser also spoke at the event, thanking Industrial Bank for its work and stressing the importance of... Read more
New York City's Carver Federal Savings Bank announced two appointments designed to strengthen the Bank's lending and community development team. Blondel A. Pinnock, formerly the president of Carver Community Development, was promoted to Chief Lending Officer, Senior Vice President. In her new role, Pinnock will be responsible for the leadership and day-to-day management of the bank's loan production department. Takisia Whites was appointed President of Carver Community Development and will also continue in her current role as Non-Profit Team Leader in the Bank's Lending... Read more
The Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation highlighted the work of Southern Bancorp, Inc. CEO Darrin Williams as part of their Forty Years Forty Leaders For Arkansas series. The videos highlight impact-oriented leaders in Arkansas who increase prosperity, encourage educational attainment, strengthen communities and build the state's nonprofit infrastructure. "So many of the communities that we serve have been abandoned by traditional financial institutions as big banks consolidate and leave small towns and as small banks are burdened by regulatory pressures... Southern wants to... Read more
A cap on the amount payday lenders can charge their customers has been announced by the United Kingdom's financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Payday loan rates will be capped at 0.8% per day of the amount borrowed. In total, no one will have to pay back more than twice what they borrowed, and there will be a £15 ($24) cap on default charges. The new cap means borrowers who fail to pay back on time can be charged a maximum of £15, plus a maximum of 0.8% a day in interest and fees. “For people who struggle to repay, we believe the new rules will put an end to spiraling... Read more
Employees and customers of Industrial Bank celebrated the Washington-based lender's 80th anniversary Monday night. To commemorate the anniversary, Industrial is offering five grants totaling $80,000 for new small businesses angling for long-term success. The effort is being supported by the U.S. Black Chambers Inc., FSC First of Prince Georges County, Operation HOPE and the D.C. Chamber of Commerce. "The mission is still the same," said Industrial Bank President and CEO Doyle Mitchell. "There are... Read more
The Treasury Department and financial crime-fighting agency Financial Crimes Enforcement Network sought to assuage critics who say their blunt enforcement actions against money laundering have caused banks to cut ties with entire business sectors, such as check cashers. The regulators said banks should evaluate the risks associated with opening their doors to money service businesses on a case-by-case basis. Critics say the money-laundering enforcement, along with the so-called "Operation Chokepoint" fraud crackdown, have fueled the "de-risking" trend. Treasury has promised a deeper level... Read more
Mark Ricca, President and CEO of First American International Bank, has announced the appointment of new CFO Neil Hecht. "[Neil] brings over 30 years of banking experience to First American International Bank, with proven skills in strategic business planning, financial management and investments. Prior to joining First American International, Neil worked at First National Bank of Santa Fe as CFO, Treasurer and Chief Investment Officer where he led all aspects of the bank’s financial management and investments... Previously, Neil worked with CIT, Inc. as CFO of its Energy... Read more
Urban Partnership Bank, launched in 2010 to take over the assets of ShoreBank after its failure, suffered a $28 million loss through the first nine months of 2014. The primary reason: a $24 million writedown this year on the value of the bank's 10-year agreement with the FDIC to share losses on bad ShoreBank loans. Despite the losses, the bank has maintained sensitivity to its community as it works through ShoreBank's bad loans. That has meant restructuring loans that in other circumstances might have been resolved more quickly with seizure of collateral. The bank has also... Read more
OneUnited Bank CEO Kevin Cohee has urged regulators to take a more nuanced approach to evaluating minority-owned banks in the wake of the bank's recently announced “Needs to Improve” Community Reinvestment Act rating. In its report, the FDIC knocked OneUnited, which operates in Boston, Miami and Los Angeles, for insufficient lending in its Boston and Miami markets. Cohee argued that minority-owned banks should not be measured the same way a large bank is judged on community lending. “We do not think the report is fair or accurate,’’ Cohee said. Loans in low income areas, “... Read more
Fannie Mae CEO Timothy Mayopoulos has provided new details on regulators’ plans to boost mortgage lending, expanding on Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Melvin Watt’s comments that Fannie and Freddie would back loans with down payments as low as 3 percent of the home's value. Mayopoulos expects Fannie’s low-down-payment mortgages to cost the borrower less than Federal Housing Administration loans. But he also said Fannie’s loans would require private mortgage insurance on top of the down payment, which could limit the size of the program. It is not clear whether private mortgage... Read more
Boyd “Bo” Megginson has been named the new Vice President for Business Lending Services at United Bank. Megginson will drive business development efforts for the bank with an emphasis on small business lending. He brings more than 20 years of business consulting experience to the position. “[Megginson] understands the challenges businesses face when getting started and when looking to expand... our clients will appreciate the consultative approach he brings to business development," said United Bank President and CEO Robert Jones.
Carver Bancorp, Inc., the holding company for Carver Federal Savings Bank, has announced that the OCC has lifted a cease and desist order issued by the Office of Thrift Supervision. The OCC also no longer holds the bank in “troubled condition." “We are extremely pleased with the OCC’s decision to lift the cease and desist order," said Deborah C. Wright, Carver’s Chairman and CEO. "This action reflects the effectiveness of our board and management team’s extensive effort to restore the bank to financial health... Since our $55 million capital raise in 2011, our management... Read more
A new working paper on CDFI job metrics from CDFI network OFN recommends increased rigor and standardization of collection practices. The report includes findings from Create Jobs for USA, an initiative by OFN and Starbucks to support CDFIs' job creation activity. The authors hope the report will be a step forward in building a consensus among CDFIs about how job metrics ought to be collected, processed and reported. Among the report's recommendations are formalizing data collection policies and data point definitions, including quality control measures. The report also encourages clear,... Read more
Treasurers for state and local governments are expanding their roles in experimental policies aimed at helping low- and moderate-income families. San Francisco treasurer Jose Cisneros' Bank On initiative gives poor people low-cost bank accounts and has been replicated in more than 100 cities, helping people on the financial fringes access financial services and develop credit histories. In 2010, Cisneros also started Kindergarten to College, an initiative that automatically opened a bank account with $50 for every kindergartner in public schools, a program later emulated in Nevada by... Read more
The CFPB is facing a balancing act as it attempts to expand the massive Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) mortgage database. The Dodd-Frank Act requires the CFPB to expand data requirements, but the agency went beyond what was suggested by the law, proposing to add fields for home equity lines of credit, reverse mortgages and multi-family properties. Now, lenders are protesting that the CFPB went too far, while consumer advocates argue it hasn't gone far enough. The proposal was designed to make lenders provide more details on why a loan was accepted or rejected and disclose more... Read more
A new report finds a number of problematic trends in the online payday loan market including consumer harassment, threats, dissemination of personal information, fraud, unauthorized accessing of checking accounts and automated payments that do not reduce loan principal. Pew found that many online loans are designed to promote renewals and long-term indebtedness. Thirty percent of online payday loan borrowers report being threatened by a lender or debt collector. Thirty-two percent of borrowers reported unauthorized withdrawals and 20 percent received a loan or product they did not... Read more
Two Indian tribes with online lending operations have dropped a lawsuit filed against New York State, abandoning an effort to block the state from restricting their businesses. New York’s top banking regulator, Benjamin Lawsky, last year urged banks in his state to stop processing payments for lenders that violate the state’s cap on interest rates. The Oklahoma-based Otoe Missouria Tribe and Michigan-based Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians responded with a federal lawsuit against the state, arguing the state's campaign was trampling on their rights as sovereign tribes... Read more
A national survey of unbanked and underbanked households found that 7.7 percent of households in the US were unbanked in 2013 — nearly 9.6 million households. Twenty percent of households were underbanked. The unbanked rate peaked in 2011, when the percentage of households without a bank account hit 8.2 percent. Compared to 2011, households in 2013 had slightly higher levels of employment and income and were slightly older and better educated. Employment was the single largest determinant of banking status; among households that recently became unbanked, 34.1 percent had experienced either... Read more