Nearly 50 predominantly rural Mississippi banks and financial institutions have been selected to receive $19 million in funding to support loans and investments in economically distressed areas.
The FY2023 Bank Enterprise Award (BEA) Program grants were approved through the U.S. Department of the Treasury Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund).
Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, a member of the Senate Community Development Finance Caucus, explained that the BEA Program will allow financial institutions to support areas most in need across the state.
“The BEA Program is important to Mississippi because it provides another avenue to credit and loans that other financial institutions wouldn’t necessarily offer to small businesses or start-ups in more rural or distressed areas,” Hyde-Smith said. “These resources will be put to work specifically to support job creation and retention in areas that need it most.”
The fund provides awards to FDIC-insured depository institutions committed to increasing their investments in CDFIs or in their own lending, investing, or service activities in distressed communities.
According to the program, distressed communities are defined as those where at least 30 percent of residents have incomes below the national poverty level, as well as where the unemployment rate is at least 1.5 times the national unemployment rate.
For Mississippi, each of the following 35 institutions will receive $451,025:
- Bank of Anguilla
- Bank of Franklin, Meadville
- Bank of Holly Springs
- Bank of Kilmichael
- Bank of Winona
- BankFirst Financial Services, Columbus
- BankOkolona, Okolona
- BankPlus, Belzoni
- Citizens Bank & Trust Company, Marks
- Citizens National Bank of Meridian
- Commerce Bank, Corinth
- Copiah Bank, Hazlehurst
- First American National Bank, Iuka
- First Bank, McComb
- First National Bank of Clarksdale
- First Security Bank, Batesville
- First Southern Bank, Columbia
- First State Bank, Waynesboro
- FNB Oxford Bank
- FNB Picayune Bank
- Genesis Bank, Benoit
- Great Southern Bank, Meridian
- Holmes County Bank, Lexington
- Magnolia State Bank, Bay Springs
- Merchants & Marine Bank, Pascagoula
- Oxford University Bank
- Peoples Bank, Mendenhall
- Pike National Bank, McComb
- Planters Bank & Trust Company, Indianola
- PriorityOne Bank, Magee
- The Commercial Bank, DeKalb
- The Jefferson Bank, Greenville
- The Peoples Bank, Ripley
- United Mississippi Bank, Natchez
- Unity Bank of Mississippi, Holly Springs
Additional awards to Mississippi banks include:
- BNA Bank, New Albany – $430,430
- Citizens Bank, Columbia – $428,497
- Bank of Brookhaven – $416,516
- Farmers and Merchants Bank Baldwyn – $379,768
- The Cleveland State Bank, Cleveland – $351,431
- Bank of Forest – $324,308
- Covington County Bank, Collins – $256,037
- First Federal Savings & Loan Association of Pascagoula-Moss Point – $259,687
- Bank of Commerce, Greenwood – $193,500
- Community Bank of Mississippi, Forest – $101,583
- Richton Bank and Trust Company, Richton – $87,865
- RiverHills Bank, Vicksburg – $53,429
- Guaranty Bank and Trust Company, Belzoni – $18,497
