Emergency Capital Investment Program: Investing for Impact

The Emergency Capital Investment Program (ECIP) was created to support eligible missiondriven institutions in their lending to financially underserved borrowers and communities. The 

statute authorizes Treasury to make ECIP investments in community financial institutions, which 

includes federally insured banks, savings and loan associations, holding companies, and credit 

unions that are designated as Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) by 

Treasury’s CDFI Fund or as Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs). Community financial 

institutions have the relationships needed to deliver responsible capital, credit, and services to 

financially underserved communities that the statute seeks to benefit, including low- and 

moderate-income (LMI), minority, and rural communities. Unlike some past federal investment 

programs that were aimed at stabilizing financial institutions in a time of economic stress, ECIP 

is designed to work through these CDFIs and MDIs to deliver loans and other investments to 

LMI, minority, and rural communities that were particularly impacted by the COVID-19 

pandemic. 

Under ECIP, Treasury invests in preferred stock or subordinated debt issued by participating 

CDFIs or MDIs. The dividend or interest rate that participating institutions pay Treasury will be 

reduced if they achieve specified benchmarks for increasing their qualified lending to minority, 

rural, and urban low-income and underserved communities, LMI borrowers, and other similar 

lending. When ECIP participants engage in “deep impact lending,” Treasury will provide 

additional credit toward this rate reduction. Deep impact lending, which is outlined in the ECIP 

Rate Reduction Guidelines, includes loans to low-income borrowers and underserved small 

businesses, for deeply affordable housing, and in persistent-poverty communities. The additional 

credit recognizes the fact that the kind of lending that will be most impactful in achieving the 

statutory purpose of the program often requires more time and resources from the lender. This 

approach is designed to help level the playing field for borrowers that face the greatest barriers to 

accessing capital and will provide greater transparency into the impact of the program.

While the funds invested by Treasury in ECIP participants are not used for any specific borrower 

or recipient, examples of impactful lending by ECIP participants since their ECIP closings

include: 

• Native American Bank recently closed a $10 million loan to finance an opioid addiction 

treatment facility in North Dakota, in partnership with a Tribe that used American Rescue

Plan funds as seed funding for the facility. 

• Carver State Bank, based in Georgia, recently extended a $650,000 working capital loan 

to an Atlanta-based, Black-owned housing developer that is building affordable singlefamily homes. 

• Optus Bank, based in South Carolina, lent $4.5 million to a minority-owned family 

entertainment center for its facilities and operations in a rural, persistent-poverty county. 

After receiving its ECIP investment, Optus approved more than $30 million in loans in a 

four-week period, when their average monthly lending last year was about $1 million. 

• Latino Community Credit Union, based in North Carolina, recently financed a $250,000 

mortgage for a Latino family to buy their first home. 
• Hope Federal Credit Union, based in Mississippi, recently made a $10,000 small business 

loan to a Black- and woman-owned organic, fresh-roasted coffee distribution business 

based in Louisiana to expand operations. 

The following lists highlight examples of ECIP participants.

1

25 ECIP participants that reported the highest percentage of lending to LMI borrowers

and Other Targeted Populations2

(not in ranked order)

• Alternatives Federal Credit Union

• Broadway Financial Corporation

• Carver Financial Corporation

• Citizens Bancshares Corporation

• City Federal Credit Union

• Grandview Bankshares, Inc.

• Grant Bancshares, Inc.

• Holy Rosary Credit Union

• Hope Federal Credit Union

• IBW Financial Corporation

• Kauai Federal Credit Union

• Latino Community Credit Union

• Liberty Financial Services, Inc.

• Lower East Side People's Federal Credit Union

• M&F Bancorp, Inc.

• MNB Ventures, Inc.

• NMB Financial Corporation

• Northeast Community Federal Credit Union

1 Each list of institutions in this release is based solely on data from two sources. The first source is data submitted 

to Treasury by institutions in their ECIP applications. The second is initial reporting submitted by ECIP participants 

prior to closing. Regardless of the source of the data, each list only includes institutions that provided data to 

Treasury in their ECIP applicationsupporting their track record of lending. For lists that are based on data 

submitted in the ECIP application, the list only includes institutions that informed Treasury that the data they 

provided relied on (1) actual borrower demographic data or (2) borrower demographic data supported by structured 

survey or evaluation efforts. These lists may not include other financial institutions that engage in significant 

amounts of lending to LMI, Other Targeted Populations, or other target communities but that did not submit such 

data to Treasury. 

2 Based on data provided by ECIP participants in their ECIP applicationsfor the period 2019-2020. “LMI” is 

defined as an individual income that is less than 120 percent of the area median income, or a median family income 

that is less than 120 percent, in the case of a geography. “Other Targeted Populations”are defined by the CDFI Fund 

asindividuals, or an identifiable group of individuals, who lack adequate access to financial products or financial 

services. The members of Other Targeted Populations reside within the boundaries of the United States (which 

encompass any State of the United States, the District of Columbia or any territory of the United States, i.e., Puerto 

Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands). This includessuch 

population so designated pursuant to any regulation issued by the CDFI Fund, and includes Black Americans, 

Hispanics, Native Americans, Native Alaskans residing in Alaska, Native Hawaiians residing in Hawaii, and Other 

Pacific Islanders residing in Other Pacific Islands. Asian Americans are considered an Other Targeted Population for 

a CDFI if the CDFI Fund has previously made such a determination for that CDFI.
• O Bee Credit Union

• One World Holding, Inc.

• Optus Financial Corporation

• Self-Help Federal Credit Union

• Sisseton-Wahpeton Federal Credit Union

• The Native American Bancorporation Co.

• Toledo Urban Federal Credit Union

ECIP participants that reported the highest percentage of mortgage loans to Other 

Targeted Populations3

• Latino Community Credit Union

• Liberty Financial Services, Inc.

• Self-Help Federal Credit Union

ECIP participants that reported the highest percentage of their lending in Persistent 

Poverty Counties4

• AOB Ventures, Inc.

• Caldwell Holding Company

• Commerce Bancorp, Inc. 

ECIP participants that reported the highest percentage of their lending in Indian 

Reservations and Native Hawaiian Homelands5

• First Antlers Bancorporation, Inc. 

• Grandview Bankshares, Inc.

• Sisseton-Wahpeton Federal Credit Union 

3 Based ondata provided by ECIP participantsin their Initial Supplemental Report for the 12 months ending 

September 30, 2020. Other Targeted Populations is defined as Minorities and, solely for CDFIs, populations 

designated as Other Targeted Populations for that CDFI pursuant to any regulation issued by the CDFI Fund. 

“Minority” means any Black American, Native American, Hispanic American, Asian American, Native Alaskan, 

Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander.

4 Based on data provided by ECIP participantsin their Initial Supplemental Report for the 12 months ending 

September 30, 2020. “Persistent Poverty Counties” are defined as any county, including county equivalent areas in 

Puerto Rico, that has had 20% or more of its population living in poverty over the past 30 years, as measured by the 

1990 and 2000 decennial censuses and the 2011–2015 5-year data series available from the American Community 

Survey of the Bureau of the Census or any other territory or possession of the United States that has had 20% or 

more of its population living in poverty over the past 30 years, as measured by the 1990, 2000 and 2010 Island 

Areas Decennial Censuses, or equivalent data, of the Bureau of the Census. 

5 Based on data provided by ECIP participantsin their Initial Supplemental Report for the 12 months ending 

September 30, 2020. “Indian Reservations and Native Hawaiian Homelands” means (1) an “Indian Reservation” as 

defined in the CDFI Fund regulations at 12 C.F.R § 1805.104 (i.e., any geographic area that meets the requirements 

of section 4(10) of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (25 U.S.C. 1903(10)), and includesland held by 

incorporated Native groups, regional corporations, and village corporations, as defined in or established pursuant to 

the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1602); public domain Indian allotments; and former Indian 

reservations in the State of Oklahoma); or (2) Hawaiian Home Lands.
ECIP participants that reported the highest percentage of their lending in U.S. Territories6

• Banesco USA

• Community First Guam Federal Credit Union 

ECIP participants that reported the highest percentage of their lending to Underserved 

Small Businesses7

• M&F Bancorp, Inc.

• Millennium Bancorp, Inc.

• The Native American Bancorporation

ECIP participants that reported the highest percentage of their lending to support Deeply 

Affordable Housing8

• Hope Federal Credit Union

• The Native American Bancorporation

• Virginia Community Capital Bank 

ECIP participants that reported the highest percentage of Public Welfare Investments9

• Harbor BanksharesCorporation

6 Based on data provided by ECIP participantsin their Initial Supplemental Report for the 12 months ending 

September 30, 2020. U.S. Territories are defined as Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, 

and the Northern Mariana Islands.

7 Based on data provided by ECIP participantsin their Initial Supplemental Report for the 12 months ending 

September 30, 2020. “Underserved Small Business” is defined as a business with gross annual revenues that do not 

exceed $100,000 or that is majority owned by individual(s) who are Low-Income Borrowers or Other Targeted 

Populations.

8 Based on data provided by ECIP participantsin their Initial Supplemental Report for the 12 months ending 

September 30, 2020. “Deeply Affordable Housing” is defined as financing for any (1) affordable housing units 

restricted to households earning below 30% of area median income for a period not less than 10 years, prorated 

based on the percentage that such units make up of the total number of housing units; or (2) Affordable Housing in a 

“high opportunity area” as defined by the Federal Housing Finance Agency in 12 C.F.R. § 1282.1(b).

9 Based on data provided by ECIP participantsin their Initial Supplemental Report for the 12 months ending 

September 30, 2020. “Public Welfare and Community Development Investments” means Public Welfare 

Investments made pursuant to 12 U.S.C. 24(eleventh) or 12 U.S.C. 338a as reported to an Applicant’s primary 

federal financial regulator.Thislist includes ECIP participants that reported the highest percentage ofPublic 

Welfare and Community Development Investmentsthat primarily benefit Low-Income Borrowers, Minority 

borrowers, or minority businesses.