About 4.5% of US households were "unbanked" in 2021, meaning they didn't have access to checking or savings accounts, per research from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
While that's down from 4.5% in 2009, it still left nearly 6 million people without a bank or credit union account, per the FDIC.
The agency has been working to address this unbanked population over the past two years, launching a "tech sprint" in July last year to invite innovative ways to bring basic financial services to underserved groups.
Now, the FDIC has appointed managers for its impact investment fund aimed at supporting "mission-driven" US banks, CNBC reports.
Elizabeth Park Capital Management and Calvert Impact have been appointed joint managers of the Mission Driven Bank Fund, which aims to reach between $500 million and $1 billion in assets.
"These institutions play a vital role in their communities, offering small businesses and families access to critically needed financial products and services," says Betty Rudolph, director of the FDIC's Office of Minority and Community Development Banking.
"These institutions are essential in expanding access to credit in traditionally unbanked and rural communities and communities of color."
The fund was first announced in September 2021, with capital commitments from Truist Financial Corporation, Microsoft, and Warner Bros Discovery
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Caroline Diehl is a serial social entrepreneur in the impact media space. She is Executive Chair and Founder of the UK’s only charitable and co-operatively owned national broadcast television channel Together TV, the leading broadcaster for social change runs a national TV channel in the UK and digital platform which helps people find inspiration to do good in their lives and communities.