the organizations that consider adopting them. but regulators also should seek to analyze the implications of technology developments through constructive and timely engagement. we should be attentive to the potential social benefits of these new technologies, prepared to make the necessary regulatory adjustments if their safety and integrity are proven and their potential benefits found to be in the public interest, and vigilant to ensure risks are well understood and managed. 1 these remarks represent my own views, which do not necessarily represent those of the federal reserve board. 2 for a review of the potential of distributed ledger technologies to change payment, settlement, and clearance processes, see the forthcoming federal reserve board finance and economics discussion series paper titled “ distributed ledger technology in payments, clearing and settlement. " 3 board of governors of the federal 2016 ( pdf ) ( washington : board of governors ). reserve, consumers and mobile financial services 4 the federal reserve board ’ s survey of household economics and decisionmaking finds that 46 percent of households report that they would need to borrow money or sell something in order to pay an unexpected expense of $ 400. the report of survey findings is available on the board ’ s website at www. federalreserve. gov / communitydev / shed. htm. 5 / 6 bis central bankers'speeches 5 robo - advisors are making investing and retirement planning cheaper and more accessible, filling a particular need as the coverage of employer - provided retirement plans has declined. according to insider newsletter published by willis towers watson ( vol. 26, no. 2, february 2016 ), only 20 percent of fortune 500 companies offered a defined - benefit plan to salaried new hires in 2015, down from 59 percent among the same employers in 1998. 6 for more information on fintech and small business lending, see karen gordon mills and brayden mccarthy, “ the state of small business lending : innovation and technology and the implications for regulation ( pdf ), ” harvard business school working paper ( 2016 ). 7 most recently, regions bank announced a partnership with fundation, an online lender, and trufund, a cdfi, to provide small - dollar loans to underserved small businesses ( for more information, see ir. regions. com / releasedetail. cfm? releaseid = 989068 ). in 2015, lending club and the opportunity fund, a california - based cdfi, announced a partnership intended to provide $ 10 million in loans over a period of five months to 400 small businesses in underserved

years, and their balance sheets are strong. the reports on first - quarter earnings have been quite positive, and available measures of credit quality, such as credit ratings and loan defaults, show few signs of stress. financing costs have moved up since last fall, but the federal reserve ’ s most recent survey of bank lending practices, which was conducted in april, indicates that domestic banks are noticing increases in requests for business loans. they also indicated an increased willingness to supply business loans in an environment of brisk competition from other lenders, a liquid secondary market for business loans, and an increased tolerance for risk. in that regard, research conducted by federal reserve economists notes that more banks are offering loans to businesses in markets where the banks do not have branch offices ; the research suggests that new technology has spurred competition for some types of small business lending in recent years. more broadly, businesses currently have access to plentiful debt and equity financing from a variety of sources in addition to banks. the challenge that community development practitioners face in working with businesses looking for new investment opportunities is to demonstrate through careful analysis that promising inner - city neighborhoods can be good investments. that the current overall conditions for business investment are positive is thus good news for the work of social compact and its partners. the importance of data to investment decisions community development has come a long way since i first began following it as a young congressional staffer thirty - five years ago. whereas government programs once funded the bulk of inner - city development, public - private partnerships now dominate. in many places, community - based organizations have been able to " jump start " markets by facilitating private investment. the focus of neighborhood revitalization has shifted increasingly toward market - based approaches. in that regard, organizations that seek to promote neighborhood revitalization must focus on what makes their projects competitive. social compact is perhaps best known for its focus on one important input into the investment process - - information. timely and accurate information is what project planners need to bring entrepreneurs, investors, and lenders together to objectively assess the proposed undertaking. having been a banker, i know very well how much more efficient the process can be when decisionmakers are presented with a clear assessment of the projected returns and a balanced analysis of risk. another related feature of market - based investment decisions is the importance of built - in measures of accountability. hard data on results are important in establishing the credibility of projects. with data, and results, such investments can also serve as catalysts for additional private