Fisher Quiet on CDFI Future

WASHINGTON – Peter Fisher, Undersecretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance, emphasized for the 12th Annual Conference of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition how proud he was of the work of the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund and its director, Tony Brown. He did not address the future of the fund in light of the cuts in the Administration’s budget requests for the program. Fisher, who mentioned to the activists that he was a registered Democrat in a Republican Administration, told the activist organization the CDFI Fund should be seen in terms of a life cycle for financial institutions, starting with grants, moving to loans and ending with the New Markets Tax Credits program, which the Administration saw as the most sustainable approach to financial institution development. But critics have charged that smaller financial institutions, particularly credit union, would probably not have the size or organization to benefit significantly from the NMTC program. The Administration has sharply cut its request for CDFI funding overall and organizations, including CUNA and NAFCU, have pledged to fight in the Congress for the funds to be restored.