Latest news with #CommunityReinvestmentAct
Business Wire
4 days ago
- Business
- Business Wire
First Foundation Bank Announces 2025 Supporting Our Communities Grant Awardees
DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--First Foundation Inc. (NYSE:FFWM) ('First Foundation'), a financial services company with two wholly owned operating subsidiaries, First Foundation Advisors and First Foundation Bank, and a strong commitment to community reinvestment, proudly announces the recipients of its 2025 Supporting Our Communities Grant Awards. First Foundation Bank awarded a total of $160,000 in grants to nonprofit organizations across fourteen counties in California, Nevada, Florida, Texas, and Hawaii – underscoring its commitment to meaningful reinvestment in the communities it calls home. Each grant awarded reflects First Foundation's approach to community engagement. Rather than focusing solely on financial support, the bank prioritizes lasting relationships, strategic partnerships, and a shared vision for inclusive growth. 'These partnerships are not just about philanthropy – they're about connection,' said Thomas C. Shafer, CEO of First Foundation Inc. 'Each nonprofit was chosen because of their meaningful ties they have with our employees and the measurable difference they're making in the areas we serve.' The selection process is uniquely designed to champion causes that resonate personally with employees—whether through volunteer service, board membership, or direct experience. By elevating the organizations that its workforce is most passionate about, First Foundation ensures authentic and effective local impact. 'From financial education to food security, from youth mentoring to affordable housing – these nonprofits reflect the diverse needs, and the spirit of service found in our communities,' said Sylvia M. Figueroa, Senior Vice President, Director of Community Development and CRA Officer of First Foundation Bank. 'When employees advocate for a cause or commit their time to a local organization, we want to support their efforts and help to bolster the impact in the community through our shared values.' Grant recipients range from grassroots community initiatives to well-established regional nonprofits. All are united by their commitment to advancing opportunity and equity within their neighborhoods. The funding is part of First Foundation Bank's broader strategy to fulfill its Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) priorities and elevate programs that directly contribute to: Affordable housing and neighborhood revitalization Financial literacy and economic empowerment Small business development and job creation Food security, education, and youth enrichment Through these efforts, First Foundation Bank is investing in people, not just programs. By channeling resources toward organizations rooted in the fabric of their communities, the bank continues to build a more resilient and inclusive future across its footprint. For a complete list of First Foundation Bank's 2025 Supporting Our Communities Grant Recipients, please visit: Community & Ways We Give Back | First Foundation Bank About First Foundation First Foundation Inc. (NYSE: FFWM) and its subsidiaries offer personal banking, business banking, and private wealth management services, including investment, trust, insurance, and philanthropy services. This comprehensive platform of financial services is designed to help clients at any stage in their financial journey. The broad range of financial products and services offered by First Foundation are more consistent with those offered by larger financial institutions, while its high level of personalized service, accessibility, and responsiveness to clients is more aligned with community banks and boutique wealth management firms. This combination of an integrated platform of comprehensive financial products and personalized service differentiates First Foundation from many of its competitors and has contributed to the growth of its client base and business. Learn more at or connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Yahoo
30-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Capital One delivers few details on $265B community plan
This story was originally published on Payments Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Payments Dive newsletter. A year after Capital One Financial announced a community benefits program in connection with its proposal to buy Discover Financial Services, the card issuer giant is still short on specifics. Last July, Capital One announced the eye-popping $265 billion plan to invest in communities where it offers its banking services, in collaboration with the National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders, NeighborWorks America, the Opportunity Finance Network and the Woodstock Institute. In the months since the plan was announced, the partnering organizations have yet to flesh out the details for the plan's execution and what it might mean for the people they serve. Immediately after the plan was announced last July, there were numerous press inquiries and conversations with the company, Woodstock Institute CEO Horacio Mendez said in a May interview. But as the newness of the announcement faded, 'there really wasn't anything for us to do but wait,' Mendez said. Meanwhile, critics assert that the community benefits plan dollar figure is inflated, and some worry the bank may not stick to the plan in a political environment that has changed since the re-election of President Donald Trump. Federal agencies shift gears on CRA Support for that fear emerged this month when the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued a notice to rescind a 2023 plan to modernize the Community Reinvestment Act. That rule update, proposed during the Biden administration, would have increased regulatory requirements for banks seeking to satisfy the 1977 law aimed at increasing financial inclusion and improving access to credit for low-income and minority communities. The rule update was initially scheduled to take effect on April 1, 2024, but after bank groups sued the federal agencies to halt the edict that year, implementation dates for substantive portions of the revised rule were delayed to 2025 and 2026. In March, the Trump administration told an appellate court overseeing the litigation that it would move to rescind the rule update. Aside from increasing regulatory burdens, critics of the rule update have contended it increased uncertainty for banks while the two sides battled in court. While 1995 regulations remain in place for now, the litigation has left banks wondering whether or not they needed to change course, the Fed vice chair for supervision, Michelle Bowman, has said. The older version of the rule gave financial institutions more leeway to balance the needs of local communities with the 'safe and sound operation' of their businesses, the three agencies said in their rescission proposal. 'Returning to the 1995 CRA regulations at this time, in staff's view, would confirm for banks that they do not need to allocate resources toward preparing for the 2023 CRA Final Rule,' the July 16 federal agencies' proposal said. What's the plan? As the Trump administration was reversing course on the rule update, Capital One closed its acquisition of Riverwoods, Illinois-based Discover in May. In conjunction with swallowing the card network, Capital One's community benefits plan proposed $44 billion in 'community development financing,' $600 million for community development financial institutions, and $575 million in philanthropy over five years. In addition, it proposed $200 billion in lending to low- to middle-income consumers; $15 billion for small business lending and $5 billion in 'spending with diverse suppliers: over that period, the company said in a July 2024 press release. The $600 million directed to the financial institutions for 'affordable housing, small business, and consumer lending' was six times what Cap One and Discover had previously planned, the release said. Though Capital One consulted with the four organizations to develop the plan, it has not yet determined how the plan will be implemented, some leaders for the organizations said in interviews. In an April interview, Marla Bilonick, president and CEO of the National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders, said the group would soon be 'getting down to brass tacks and executing on it.' In a follow-up email sent via her spokesperson, Bilonick said this month that NALCAB couldn't comment further on the status of their talks until after the organization meets with Capital One. Woodstock's Mendez noted in May that Capital One had scheduled a meeting in the next week or so to reconnect and discuss the plan's execution nationally and in Chicago, he said. The Woodstock Institute, a research and policy nonprofit focused on 'economic justice and racial equity within financial systems,' has since had conversations with Capital One in which they discussed possibly arranging town halls with the public to assess the location of a Capital One Café in Chicago. The bank's cafés are retail branches that double as a place for consumers to grab coffee and food, meet with friends or work on a laptop. The nonprofit and the bank also discussed arranging meetings with other local nonprofits and hiring one or two new staffers to manage the bank's Chicago commitments, Mendez noted in a follow-up email to Payments Dive. Mendez said he has had regular meetings with Capital One's policy team, and the company is responsive to his calls and emails. 'So far, I'm feeling pretty good about our ability to have honest and challenging communication about stuff that we like and stuff that we're concerned about,' Mendez said in May. NeighborWorks America and the Opportunity Finance Network declined multiple requests for comment. Payments Dive filed an open records request with NeighborWorks, a congressionally chartered nonprofit focused on affordable housing, asking for records regarding its involvement in Capital One's community benefits plan. The organization has not supplied any records responsive to the April 15 request, despite noting on its website that it's subject to the Freedom of Information Act. No specific plan for program dollars In an interview, Capital One's executive vice president and head of external affairs, Andy Navarrete, offered few specifics about implementation of the plan beyond the initial press release. In that June interview, he disputed the notion that the partner organizations weren't informed about the execution of the community benefits plan. He emphasized that the plan was contingent on the deal closing, noting that just happened in May. By way of explanation, he also underscored the plan's five-year duration. 'When you sort of think about the dollar commitments, they are going to be allocated and implemented over that period of time,' Navarrete said. 'So, it shouldn't be surprising at all that we haven't specifically defined exactly where all of those dollars are going today.' The company confirmed that it had its kick-off meeting with its partners and plans to work with them to implement the community benefits agreement, but did not disclose when the meeting occurred. 'With an investment this meaningful, and a five-year deployment plan, we are taking a thoughtful approach and actively working with our community partners to plan the most effective way to invest and drive positive impact,' a spokesperson for the bank said in a follow-up email. 'To date, we have provided meaningfully more transparency into the detail of our plan than any prior CBP negotiated by other parties. We are committed to continuing to be transparent while we deliver in the years to come.' Capital One has met with its key collaborators, and the company plans to meet with members of its Community Advisory Council, who also contributed to formation of the plan, Navarrete said during the June interview. As part of the plan, the Woodstock Institute pushed for Capital One to retain a Discover customer care center in the Chatham neighborhood on Chicago's South Side; to open two cafés in Illinois; and to maintain its three current cafés in the state, Mendez said. The company has about 60 such cafés nationwide, including three in Chicago, according to its website, though the Chicago locations are not in low-income areas. Navarrete said the company is looking to open another café elsewhere in Chicago and in other low- and middle-income communities across the country. Critics question plan implementation Critics and insiders of Capital One's community benefits plan have expressed skepticism about whether the company is truly committed to execution of the plan. Community benefits agreements like Capital One's plan play a role in getting regulatory approval for mergers and acquisitions, said Terri Friedline, a professor of social work at the University of Michigan. (Friedline previously served as an expert witness in an unrelated lawsuit against Capital One, which was later dropped.) Besides persuading regulators to approve bank mergers, elements of these community benefits plans could generate profits for the bank, Friedline said. 'Lending to economically disadvantaged and/or Black and brown communities — that should already be what banks and other finance companies are doing,' Friedline said. 'But having it in the form of a community benefits agreement means that it sounds like they're doing something extra, or something that is generous on their part. But it's still an activity that traces back to their own bottom line.' The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 doesn't mandate that banks implement community benefits agreements, but the pacts serve as a way for communities to hold banks accountable for what they're required to do under the CRA, she explained. Past community investment plans include a 2018 Nashville plan for jobs, community services and affordable housing; a $1 billion Denver affordable housing plan in 2005; and a $2.8 billion Atlanta project in 2006, according to the Urban Institute. Such plans help bolster the banks' reputations among their employees and the communities they serve, said Harry M. Jansen Kraemer, clinical professor of management and organizations at Northwestern University who is also a former Baxter International CEO and chairman. 'The larger you are, the more you're going to have to do to make an impact in terms of people thinking you're doing something worthwhile,' Kraemer said. Some critics have said the company's $265 billion figure is misleading. An analysis of Capital One's plan by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition asserts that it amounts to $5 billion in new lending, investment and grant activity. The group is a collection of organizations that seek to address racial and socio-economic inequities, particularly with respect to financial well-being. In reality, the community benefits plan reflects what both Discover and Capital One were doing prior to the merger, but the $265 billion figure is 'meant to make it look really fancy,' said NCRC Senior Policy Advisor Kevin Hill. Navarrete said the NCRC's claim that the $265 billion community benefits plan is not much more than what each company had done before was factually incorrect. Capital One is 'the largest provider of bank uncertified accounts in the country, and we're increasing our role in that space significantly,' Navarrete said. 'Whether you look at this quantitatively or qualitatively, this goes well beyond any [community benefits plan] previously negotiated by any organization.' Who monitors Capital One's progress? NCRC's Hill raised questions about whether Capital One will uphold its commitments. 'They probably expect the regulators to not pay attention to it past the merger approval if they do walk away,' Hill said. An OCC spokesperson said the agency doesn't monitor compliance with community benefits agreements, nor does it enforce these agreements. The Federal Reserve declined to comment when asked whether it verifies that such agreements are executed. To update the public on its progress, Capital One will release an interim report at the end of this year, followed by additional reports in June of the fiscal year after that, Navarrete said. Capital One's commitment to financial inclusion is central to its identity, as is providing access to credit for a spectrum of American consumers, the company spokesperson said. Lynne Marek contributed to this story. Recommended Reading Capital One closes Discover deal Sign in to access your portfolio
Bloomberg
21-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
US Regulators Seek Public Input on Bank Operation, Capital Rules
US bank regulators are seeking input on banking operation, capital and the Community Reinvestment Act rules as part of a review of their regulations. The Federal Reserve, in conjunction with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., said Monday the public will have 90 days from publication in the Federal Register to comment.
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
FDIC proposes inflation index, changes to ILC rules
This story was originally published on Banking Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Banking Dive newsletter. In a meeting of its board Tuesday, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. made clear it was set on rolling back certain Biden-era regulations. A resolution approved Tuesday would withdraw a proposal from last August that would have required industrial loan company charter applicants to prove their independence from their parent firms and let the FDIC evaluate whether an ILC would meet its community's lending needs. The FDIC's now-acting chair, Travis Hill, dissented with the proposal last year, calling it an 'odd place to start' with regard to ILCs – a divisive setup that opponents argue would allow large corporations to provide banking services without oversight from the Federal Reserve. The FDIC did not approve any ILC charter applications for more than a decade before giving green lights to fintech Square (now Block) and student loan servicer Nelnet in 2020. And ILCs' approval prospects have been rocky since. Hill, however, has sought to embrace ways to encourage new bank formation, including ILCs. Since Hill became the FDIC's acting chair in January, carmaker Nissan has applied for an ILC charter and two previous applicants – GM and investment firm Edward Jones – have resubmitted their paperwork. For its part, the FDIC issued a request for information that gives interested parties 60 days to comment publicly on changes the agency could make to its ILC charter application evaluation process. 'Although many of the arguments related to ILCs are familiar, sustained interest in the charter by a diverse set of institutions suggests that a wide-ranging RFI would be a helpful step,' Hill said in a statement. 'As I have said previously, I believe our ultimate objective should be a policy statement or similar issuance that provides clarity on how the FDIC interprets the applicable statutory factors in the context of ILC filings.' ILCs are hardly the only space in which the FDIC moved Tuesday to reverse Biden-era policy. The agency also proposed rescinding a 2023 revision of the Community Reinvestment Act. The 2023 version takes into account banks' online presence, requiring banks to lend in lower-income communities where they have a concentration of mortgage and small-business loans, rather than just where their branches are. The rule also reclassifies banks by size, defining small banks as those with less than $600 million in assets, and subjecting banks with between $600 million and $2 billion in assets to a retail lending test. The 2023 rule, floated under Democratic leadership, came after the Republican-led Office of the Comptroller of the Currency proposed a CRA rewrite in 2020. That was later rescinded. Tuesday's proposal, teased in March, would revert the CRA to its 1995 standard. The FDIC on Tuesday also proposed a tweak in the way it handles the appeal of supervision recommendations and orders. The agency would create an independent Office of Supervisory Appeals, meant to increase transparency and consistency in the appeals process, and de-politicize it. This, too, marks a return to a Republican-led effort at the agency. The FDIC in 2020 proposed creating an independent, stand-alone office focused on reviewing and deciding supervisory appeals, Hill said. Though the office launched in 2021, it was disbanded before hearing any appeals, amid a change in leadership at the agency, he added. 'The rationale for instituting the new office four years ago remains the same today,' Hill said in a statement. The FDIC aims to recruit external, impartial candidates 'who are less likely to have established relationships with individuals involved in the supervisory process,' Hill said. Officials would also serve time-limited terms, so longer-term career goals wouldn't cloud judgment, he said. Also, limiting the office's scope to the resolution of appeals means officials will give 'each case the proper level of attention and diligence,' Hill said. Not every proposal Tuesday was meant to return the agency to its pre-Biden form. The FDIC proposed a rule to update certain regulatory thresholds to reflect inflation. The move would protect smaller banks from shouldering too heavy a burden if inflation – rather than a change in an institution's size, risk profile or complexity – were to push a bank over a threshold. Under the proposal, thresholds would be updated every two years based on changes to the Consumer Price Index – or more frequently if inflation increases by more than 8% in a year. Thresholds will not decrease, however, in times when prices fall. The proposal, which is open to public comment for 60 days, drew measured support from at least one trade group. The American Bankers Association called it a 'long-overdue step toward a more rational and modern bank regulatory framework.' 'For many years, ABA has argued that arbitrary asset thresholds impose unintended constraints and costs on banks while making it harder for regulators to focus on the largest sources of risk — effects that are compounded when thresholds remain static over years and even decades,' the group said. 'Just as important as indexing itself is ensuring that the chosen measure reflects structural changes in the banking sector and overall economic growth. We look forward to reviewing the proposal's use of CPI and intend to explore alternatives such as nominal [gross domestic product] or total bank assets.' The FDIC would apply the proposal to bank filing procedures, securities of nonmember banks and state savings associations, restrictions on asset sales from failed institutions, international banking, annual audits and reporting and orderly liquidation authority regulations. Recommended Reading FDIC's Hill: Regulatory agenda may be too packed Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
KeyBank Provides $58 Million of Financing for Affordable Multifamily Housing in California
CLEVELAND, OH / / June 9, 2025 / KeyBank Community Development Lending and Investment (CDLI) provided a $58 million construction loan to finance the new construction of an affordable multifamily housing property in Palmdale, California, within Los Angeles County. Maison's Village II will include 66 single family lots totaling 191 units. There will be 64 one-bedroom units, 46 two-bedroom units, 57 three-bedroom units, and 22 four-bedroom units available to families earning at or below 30%, 50%, 60%, and 70% of area median income (AMI). Each site will include a garage, with additional on-street parking, and amenities such as a pool, recreation building, and an on-site management office. The project is nearly identical to Maison's Village I, an adjacent housing development, which KeyBank provided construction financing for in 2022. The sponsor and developer, Ravello Holdings, is a Southern California based real estate development firm with decades of experience in affordable multifamily projects. Maison's Village II received additional funding in the form of a $30 million permanent loan and $1.6 million soft financing from the California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA) and $36.8 million in low-income housing tax credit equity (LIHTC) from WNC & Associates. Matthew Haas of KeyBank CDLI structured the financing. About KeyBank Community Development Lending and InvestmentKeyBank Community Development Lending and Investment (CDLI) finances projects that stabilize and revitalize communities across all 50 states. As one of the top affordable housing capital providers in the country, KeyBank's platform brings together construction, acquisition, bridge-to-re-syndication, and preservation loans, as well as lines of credit, Agency and HUD permanent mortgage executions, and equity investments for low-income housing projects, especially Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) financing. KeyBank has earned 11 consecutive "Outstanding" ratings on the Community Reinvestment Act exam, from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, making it the first U.S. national bank among the 25 largest to do so since the Act's passage in 1977. About KeyCorp In 2025, KeyCorp celebrates its bicentennial, marking 200 years of service to clients and communities from Maine to Alaska. To learn more, visit KeyBank Heritage Center. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Key is one of the nation's largest bank-based financial services companies, with assets of approximately $189 billion at March 31, 2025. Key provides deposit, lending, cash management, and investment services to individuals and businesses in 15 states under the name KeyBank National Association through a network of approximately 1,000 branches and approximately 1,200 ATMs. Key also provides a broad range of sophisticated corporate and investment banking products, such as merger and acquisition advice, public and private debt and equity, syndications and derivatives to middle market companies in selected industries throughout the United States under the KeyBanc Capital Markets trade name. For more information, visit KeyBank Member FDIC. ### CONTACT :Laura Mimura216-471-2883Laura_J_Mimura@ KEY MEDIA NEWSROOM: View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from KeyBank on Contact Info:Spokesperson: KeyBankWebsite: info@ SOURCE: KeyBank View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
