Today, the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) published in the Federal Register a revision of the regulations that govern Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) certification as it relates to the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program. The CDFI Fund is seeking comments on the revision, which creates a means for the CDFI Fund to permit a CDFI’s Affiliate to rely on the Controlling CDFI’s activity or track record in order to meet the financing entity requirement for participation as an Eligible CDFI under the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program.
The CDFI Bond Guarantee Program supports CDFI lending by providing Guarantees for Bonds issued by Qualified Issuers as part of a Bond Issue for Eligible Community or Economic Development Purposes. The CDFI Bond Guarantee Program provides CDFIs with a new source of long-term capital and furthers the mission of the CDFI Fund to increase economic opportunity and promote community and economic development investments for underserved populations and in distressed communities in the United States.
An important component of the CDFI Fund’s authority is the certification of entities as CDFIs, which permits such entities to have access to financial assistance through the CDFI Fund’s programs, including the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program. Today, the CDFI Fund has amended the CDFI certification regulation only with respect to the financing entity requirement and participation as an Eligible CDFI in the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program. This revised regulation states that, for purposes of participating in the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program, the Eligible CDFI, if it is an Affiliate of a CDFI, need not meet the financing entity requirement based on its own merit or activity but may instead rely on the financing entity track record of the Controlling CDFI. This regulatory revision affects only the Affiliate’s ability to meet the financing entity requirement for CDFI certification: said entity must meet the other five certification criteria in accordance with the existing regulation. Full information about the amendment of the certification regulation can be found in the accompanying Federal Register notice.
All comments on the regulation must be received by June 9, 2015, and must be submitted in writing and sent to David Meyer, Manager, Certification, Compliance Monitoring and Evaluation, at the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, U.S. Department of the Treasury, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20220; by e-mail to cdfihelp@cdfi.treas.gov; or by facsimile to (202) 453-2466. Please note this is not a toll free number.
For more information about the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program, please visit www.cdfifund.gov/bond or view the program fact sheet.
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