The purpose of the Bank Enterprise Award Program (BEA Program) is to provide an incentive to Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation-insured (FDIC-insured) depository institutions to increase their lending, investment, and financial services to residents and businesses located in economically distressed communities, and provide assistance to Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) through grants, stock purchases, loans, deposits, and other forms of financial and technical assistance. The CDFI Fund will make awards through the BEA Program to FDIC-insured depository institutions, based upon such institutions' demonstrated increase of qualified activities, as reported in the Application. The Application will solicit information concerning: Applicants' eligibility to participate in the BEA Program; the increase in total dollar value of applicants' qualified activities; impact of qualified activities; and appropriate supporting documentation. The questions that the Application contains, and the information generated thereby, will enable the CDFI Fund to evaluate applicants' activities and determine the extent of applicants' eligibility for BEA Program awards.
US Code:
12 USC 1834a
Name of Law: Assessment credits for qualifying activities relating to distressed communities
There is an increase of 2,700 hours of burden due to an adjustment of agency estimates. The CDFI Fund has adjusted its burden estimates based on an analysis of application data, which show an average of 120 applicants, an increase of 20 from previous estimates. The estimated time required to complete the BEA application has also been adjusted in response to public comments, increasing to 60 hours per application.
The BEA Program has not materially changed, and the proposed FY 2020 â 2022 BEA Program application is substantially similar to what was approved in 2016, for FY 2017-2019 application rounds. One minor change to the FY 2020-2022 BEA Program application is new data fields for applicants to report the percentage of the prospective award that will be invested in Persistent Poverty Counties (PPCs). In FY 2012, 2013, 2017, 2018, and 2019 Congress required that at least 10 percent of the funds awarded by the CDFI Fund to BEA Program award recipients be used for activities that serve populations living in PPCs. The CDFI Fund made the decision to wait until the next PRA Renewal of the BEA Program application to add these data fields. The addition of these data fields will formally update the BEA Program application to reflect the Congressional PPC mandate and allow the CDFI Fund to continue to collect the data needed to ensure that future Congressional PPC mandates are met. This change is not expected to increase or decrease the total burden hours per application.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.