As part of a collaborative effort with the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), Fifth Third Bank is committing $30 billion in lending and investments to low-and moderate-income borrowers and communities over a five-year period—from 2016 to 2020. According to Fifth Third’s Nov. 18, 2016, release, the bank’s recently enhanced community development plan includes mortgage, small business, and community development lending as well as investing, philanthropy, and financial services for low- and moderate-income communities.
Plan highlights. According to the NCRC’s “Summary of the Community Action Plan” between the coalition group and Fifth Third, the bank’s $30 billion commitment represents 21 percent of Fifth Third’s assets, or 29 percent of its deposits. Fifth Third’s commitment covers locations in 10 states where the bank has branches: Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. Approximately 145 community-based organizations of the NCRC’s membership in these states provided input before the agreement between the NCRC and Fifth Third was finalized.
Among other things, the community development plan is designed to fund:
- $11 billion in mortgage lending to low- to moderate-income individuals and communities;
- $10 billion in small business lending in all markets and communities to businesses with gross annual revenue below $1 million;
- $9 billion in “Community Reinvestment Act” community development loans and investments, including support for affordable housing, revolving loan funds, Community Development Corporations, Community Development Financial Institutions, community pre-development resources, housing rehab loan pools, and community land trusts and land banks; and
- $93 million in philanthropic work to “ensure adequate access to bank branches in LMI communities and communities of color, including opening at least 10 new branches.”
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