America’s Credit Unions President/CEO Jim Nussle congratulated new Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund Director Pravina Raghavan, adding that credit unions look forward to working with the fund toward their shared goal of supporting underserved communities.
There are more than 500 certified CDFI credit unions, representing more than 35% of CDFIs nationwide but originating 77.1% of CDFI loans and holding 76.7% of all CDFI financial products.
“Although the CDFI Fund is not a regulator, it is critical for the Fund to understand that its policies have a significant impact on credit union strategic plans and operations. These impacts can, in turn, have implications for a credit union’s safety and soundness or the internal controls necessary to protect the credit union from litigation, compliance, or reputational risk.
“America’s Credit Unions applauds the CDFI Fund’s recent work on the CDFI Certification Application to modernize its requirements while ensuring that credit unions were not inappropriately unable to obtain or retain certification,” Nussle wrote. “We eagerly await the publication of the CDFI Certification Agreement, which CDCUs do need to fully assess the strategic and compliance obligations of certification prior to investing in the certification process.”
Raghavan previously served as director of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program at National Institute of Standards and Technology and deputy associate administrator and New York District director at the U.S. Small Business Administration.
