{"id":21813,"date":"2022-03-23T11:19:56","date_gmt":"2022-03-23T18:19:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=21813"},"modified":"2022-03-23T11:19:59","modified_gmt":"2022-03-23T18:19:59","slug":"public-bank-east-bay-publishes-the-first-viability-study-for-a-regional-public-bank-in-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2022\/03\/23\/public-bank-east-bay-publishes-the-first-viability-study-for-a-regional-public-bank-in-california\/","title":{"rendered":"Public Bank East Bay publishes the first Viability Study for a regional public bank in California"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Public Bank East Bay publishes the first Viability Study for a regional public bank in California, providing a very promising model for other applicants<\/strong>California\u2019s Public Banking Act, AB 857,\u00a0which took effect on January 1, 2020, requires that municipalities complete a \u201cviability study\u201d as a first step toward applying for a public bank charter. Public Bank East Bay (PBEB)\u2014 a joint venture of the East Bay cities of Oakland, Berkeley, and Richmond, and the county of Alameda \u2014 is the first California public banking group to complete this step. Authored by Tom Sgouros, the\u00a0PBEB Viability Study<\/a>, which has had the benefit of extensive leadership and input by the public and by experts in the field of public banking,\u00a0is a very well done and promising model for other applicants.

The study states:\u201cThis Study demonstrates that the East Bay region of Northern California can be the home of a stable, productive, and transparent public bank \u2014 the Public Bank East Bay \u2014 which can help its region address essential structural problems.\u201d<\/strong>

The study proposes to begin the chartering process by forming a \u201cmutual bank<\/a>.\u201d Unlike other bank charters that require a permanent financial commitment to capitalize the bank, a mutual bank\u2019s capital comes from agreed-upon time-pledged deposits \u2014 an advantage with governments that initially may be reluctant to make a permanent financial commitment of public funds.\u00a0The Public Bank East Bay Viability Study reports that the mutual bank will achieve fiscal stability within the first three years of opening and become profitable in year four<\/strong>, by providing loan support to underserved sectors of the local economy and infrastructure needs.

The mutual bank will partner with local Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and local banks to increase small business lending and provide nimble capital to non-profit affordable housing developers. It will expand its lending portfolio to include such works as the rehabilitation of existing buildings to ease strain on the environment, completion of needed electrification and renewable energy projects, and the\u00a0financing of\u00a0small projects of the member governments.

The study continues:\u201cThrough careful management of these programs,\u00a0the PBEB can deliver benefits worth many times the initial investment<\/strong>, and provide a vibrant institution that is a vital part of the East Bay economy for decades to come.\u201d

[read the study<\/a>]<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Public Bank East Bay publishes the first Viability Study for a regional public bank in California, providing a very promising model for other applicantsCalifornia\u2019s Public Banking Act, AB 857,\u00a0which took effect on January 1, 2020, requires that municipalities complete a \u201cviability study\u201d as a first step toward applying for a… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21813"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21813"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21814,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21813\/revisions\/21814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}