CDFI Fund Releases Application Demand for FY 2018 Round of BEA Program

NEARLY $941 MILLION IN INCREASED INVESTMENTS, LENDING AND SERVICES IN HIGHLY DISTRESSED COMMUNITIES AND TO CDFIS

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) 2018 round of its Bank Enterprise Award Program (BEA Program). A total of 124 applications were received requesting awards of nearly $218.1 million. A total of $25 million is available for this round. BEA Program applicants are headquartered in 24 states and the District of Columbia.

The BEA Program provides an incentive for FDIC-insured financial institutions to increase lending, investments and financial services (qualified activities) in the most severely economically distressed communities. Under the BEA 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.

The BEA Program requires applicants to demonstrate an increase in qualified activities from one annual reporting period-known as the "baseline period"- to the next-known as the "assessment period". BEA qualified activities are provided to Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) or residents and businesses located in these economically distressed communities. Award amounts are calculated as a percentage of the increase in qualified activities.

During the one-year assessment period (January 1, 2017 December 31, 2017), these 124 applicants collectively reported qualified activities totaling more than $2.1 billion, compared to the nearly $1.2 billion in qualified activities made during the baseline period (January 1, 2016 December 31, 2016). This represents an overall increase of nearly $941 million in lending, investment and financial services.

In addition, of the 124 applicants, 89 have made commitments to deploy a portion of their award in Persistent Poverty Counties (PPC). PPCs are counties where 20 percent or more of the population has lived in poverty over the past 30 years, as measured by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Applications are currently under review and the CDFI Fund anticipates announcing awards this coming winter.

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.