CINCINNATI — Fifth Third Bancorp and the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) have signed a $30 billion community development plan through 2020.
The plan builds on the $27.5 billion community commitment that Fifth Third announced in February 2016, and is the largest by a single bank in recent history.
A detailed summary of the agreement can be accessed at www.53.com/commitment.
The plan covers the 10 states in which Fifth Third has branches and follows weeks of discussions and six meetings between Fifth Third and community groups working with NCRC in Chicago, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Tampa Bay, and Washington, D.C. All told, Fifth Third met with more than 200 community-based organizations.
The plan calls for Fifth Third to invest $30 billion in its communities over a five year period, which began Jan. 1. Lending and investments of $30 billion covered under this agreement include the following categories: mortgage lending, small business lending, including micro-lending; and community development lending and investing. The agreement also covers $158.4 million in community initiatives, including financial services, branch openings, marketing and research, product development and cooperative public policy advocacy for low- and moderate-income communities.
“This substantive and detailed community development plan was the result of a collaborative process with community members and bank leaders,” said NCRC President and 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.”
Carmichael, said, “Fifth Third is deeply committed to both investing significant resources into the community as well as engaging community members and leaders. Our objective is to ensure that, together with the NCRC, we meaningfully impact the communities we serve. We appreciate and value the collaboration with John Taylor and all the NCRC member organizations who met with us to enable the expansion of our original commitment in ways that will best improve lives.”
“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,” said U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown. “I applaud these organizations for working with people across the state, and I’m glad their investment will provide meaningful help to Ohioans.”
