The tech giant is working with fintech CNote to help underserved communities.
The multinational technology company Apple, maybe best known for the iPhone, announced Thursday that it is working with fintech company CNote to deploy $25 million of its own money into community development financial institutions (CDFIs), low-income designated credit unions and minority depository institutions (MDIs).
According to a statement, the $25 million infusion is part of Apple’s “broader Racial Equity and Justice Initiative, an effort to address systemic racism in America and expand opportunities for communities of color.”
Apple is using the fintech company CNote to disperse the funds to several credit unions and community banks across the country. According to CNote, the credit unions receiving the funds include the following:
- ANECA Federal Credit Union in Louisiana;
- Education Credit Union in Texas;
- Hope Credit Union, which serves Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee;
- Kaua’i Federal Credit Union in Hawai’I;
- Latino Community Credit Union in North Carolina; and
- Self-Help Federal Credit Union with locations in California, Illinois, Washington and Wisconsin.
“We’re committed to helping ensure that everyone has access to the opportunity to pursue their dreams and create our shared future,” Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives, said. “By working with CNote to get funds directly to historically under-resourced communities through their local financial institutions, we can support equity, entrepreneurship and access.”
“Corporations have an enormous opportunity to help communities across the U.S. thrive by changing the way they manage their cash reserves, and we’re excited to see Apple at the forefront of this emerging trend,” Catherine Berman, CEO of CNote, said. “Through our platform, we have already started moving Apple deposits into low-income communities and communities of color.”
According to CNote, the company has already deployed an initial round of Apple’s deposits to those institutions.
Article “Apple Pumps $25 Million Into Credit Unions & MDIs” Courtesy of Michael Ogden, Credit Union Times
(Oct. 15, 2021) Credit unions with both minority depository institution (MDI) and low-income (LICU) designations may apply now, through Oct. 29, for NCUA’s mentoring grants worth a total of $100,000, the agency said this week.
NCUA said the grant round is aimed at supporting mentoring relationships with larger, experienced credit unions to provide guidance to the other MDIs.
Eligibility and administrative requirements information is available on the agency’s website. However, NCUA said, credit unions must use its “CyberGrants portal” to submit applications.
The agency first announced the mentoring grant round last month.
LINK:
NCUA MDI Mentoring Grant Round Reopens Oct. 11
(Sept. 17, 2021) A new fund designed to help banks serve low-income and minority communities will count Microsoft and Truist Financial Corp. – the sixth largest U.S. bank – as its anchor investors, the FDIC announced this week.
The FDIC established the Mission-Driven Bank Fund (MDBF), it said, to channel private capital and other resources to minority depository institutions (MDIs) and community development financial institutions (CDFIs). “MDIs and CDFIs are banks, savings banks, and savings associations that provide critically needed capital and financial services to minority, lower income, and rural communities,” the FDIC said.
Investments in the fund, the FDIC has said, would assist MDIs and CDFIs to (among other things) raise capital necessary to serve communities; weather economic downturns; attract technical expertise; and acquire and use technology.
Also joining as a “founding investor” in the fund is Discovery, Inc., a U.S. multinational mass media factual television company, according to its own description. The three groups’ investment would total $120 million; more investments are expected, the FDIC said.
The “anchor investors” and founding investors were selected, the agency has said, through a competition to counsel the fund’s investing. Under the rules of the competition, the investors were required to have experience managing investment funds and with prior work with MDIs and CDFIs, as well as a “deep understanding of the communities they serve.”
The MDBF has been in development by FDIC since last November, when the agency announced it was looking for investors in the fund. The agency said then that it would play no role in fund management or individual investment decisions of the fund. However, it noted it would continue to “assess the alignment of the Fund’s on-going operations with its purpose of assisting Mission-Driven Banks.”
LINK:
FDIC Launches Mission-Driven Bank Fund
(Sept. 17, 2021) $100,000 is being made available for minority depository institution (MDI) mentoring grants to eligible credit unions, NCUA announced this week. The regulator said federally insured credit unions with both the MDI and low-income designations are eligible to apply for the grants between Oct. 11 to Oct. 29. The grants are to support mentoring relationships that allow larger, experienced credit unions the opportunity to provide guidance to other MDIs.
“The expiration of unemployment benefits and foreclosure and eviction moratoriums mean that low-income households and communities of color will face financial stress in the coming months,” NCUA Chairman Todd Harper said in a statement. “The NCUA’s mentoring grants program helps MDI credit unions provide greater opportunities for members to build financial security, make investments in communities, and help to close the wealth gap. I strongly encourage eligible MDIs to apply to this program.”
LINK:
NCUA MDI Mentoring Grant Round Reopens Oct. 11
(Feb. 12, 2021) A continuing partnership with state supervisors “will be invaluable” to ensuring a viable dual-chartering credit union system, NCUA Board Chairman Todd Harper said in a webinar Thursday, his first public event as new leader of the agency
During the 90-minute event – billed as the “Chairman’s Webinar” – Harper outlined his priorities as chairman, which include a variety of other issues.
“My whole heart is in the NCUA, its vital work, and the mission of the credit union system,” he said. In particular, he said he looked forward to working with credit unions and other key stakeholders in responding to the economic fallout caused by pandemic, positioning the agency to meet future challenges, and strengthening NCUA’s commitment to consumer financial protection.
More specifically, regarding his priorities, he cited capital and liquidity, consumer financial protection, cybersecurity, and diversity, equity and economic inclusion. “In the months ahead, these priorities will guide the agency’s decisions,” he said. He also said credit unions, in order to compete, must be able to safely and securely use technology to deliver member services and adopt financial innovations – but emphasize security and equity in providing those services.
“We must also strengthen the agency’s consumer financial protection program to ensure that all consumers receive the same level of protection regardless of their financial provider of choice,” he said.
Referring to state regulators, the new NCUA chairman said the supervisors play an important role in ensuring safety and soundness. He said the dual chartering system is a “critical asset that helps the credit union system be dynamic and thriving.” A continuing partnership between NCUA and state regulators, as the credit union system addresses the economic fallout from the pandemic, he said, “will be invaluable.”
In other comments, Harper said:
- CUs must live up to their mission of providing access for their members to credit and savings – including members of modest means. ”NCUA must do all that it can, then, to advance economic equity and justice,” he said.
- In the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd last summer, the credit union system has an obligation to address racial justice directly and chart a better course for the nation’s future. “We especially must enhance support for minority deposit institutions, low-income credit unions and community development credit unions that are “on the front lines of serving the underserved “– as well as compliance with fair lending laws to counter discrimination in lending.
- Future challenges, such as climate change, must also be addressed (since, he said, it disproportionately affects underserved communities).
Harper also noted issues on the horizon for the agency, which include finalizing the capitalization of interest rule, developing a rule to phase in the current expected credit loss (CECL) accounting rule, and exploring the impact of additional economic stimulus approved by Congress on net worth ratios.
In comments from NCUA staff during a questions and answer period of the event, it was noted that the rollout of the new MERIT exam program is delayed until the second half of this year. The impact of the coronavirus crisis was specifically pointed to as the cause.
Also, according to NCUA Director of Examination and Insurance Myra Toeppe (in response to a question submitted by a participant), a decision on an insurance premium has not yet been reached. She said the agency would be finalizing the equity ratio for the insurance fund first, and presenting that at the NCUA Board meeting next week. “We need to get the calculation finalized and then move on from there,” she said.