Fifth Third Bancorp announced Friday that it plans to invest $30 billion in community development in the 10 states where it has branches as part of an agreement with the National Community Reinvestment Coalition and 145 community-based organizations.
According to the NCRC, the Fifth Third’s Community Development Plan includes mortgage and small business lending, including micro-lending, community development lending and investing, philanthropy, and financial services for low- and moderate-income communities.
As part of the agreement, pledges to fund $11 billion in mortgage lending to LMI individuals and communities.
Additionally, Fifth Third will provide $10 billion in small business lending in all markets and communities to businesses with gross annual revenue below $1 million.
Fifth Third will also fund $9 billion in Community Reinvestment Act community development loans and investments, which includes support for affordable housing, revolving loan funds, Community Development Corporations, Community Development Financial Institutions, community pre-development resources, housing rehab loan pools, and community land trusts and land banks.
Finally, Fifth Third also commits to provide $93 million in philanthropy, and pledges to work to ensure adequate access to bank branches in LMI communities and communities of color, including opening at least 10 new branches.
“This substantive and detailed community development plan was the result of a collaborative process with community members and bank leaders,” said NCRC President & CEO John Taylor.
“We applaud President and CEO Greg Carmichael and the senior leadership of Fifth Third, who after putting out a significant community commitment earlier in the year, were willing and eager to deeply engage NCRC and its member organizations in significant discussions to ensure the commitments made were in areas of the greatest community need and put in place rigorous accountability for their bank and the communities they serve,” Taylor added.
Fifth Third’s plan covers the 10 states where Fifth Third has branches: Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky.
“Fifth Third is deeply committed to both investing significant resources into the community as well as engaging community members and leaders,” Carmichael said.
“Our objective is to ensure that, together with the NCRC, we meaningfully impact the communities in the 10 states where Fifth Third operates,” Carmichael added. “We appreciate and value the collaboration with John Taylor and all the NCRC member organizations who met with us to enable us to expand our original commitment in ways that will best improve lives in our communities.”
As stated above, one of the states where Fifth Third will focus its efforts is Ohio. The senior Senator from Ohio, Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-OH, welcomed the bank’s efforts.
“Fifth Third and NCRC’s investment in Ohio will create opportunities for businesses and families to seek the resources they need to make their communities stronger,” Brown said. “I applaud these organizations for working with people across the state, and I’m glad their investment will provide meaningful help to Ohioans."
