CARS™ Reaffirms Highest Financial Strength & Impact Performance Ratings for
NCB Capital Impact

January 2013: CARS™ has reaffirmed their highest financial and impact performance ratings from 2012. For six consecutive years, NCB Capital Impact has received the highest rating for financial performance, and the highest impact rating for the past three years.

Every day across the nation, a network of dedicated community development financial institutions (CDFIs) invests in underserved communities, making life better for millions of low and moderate income Americans. NCB Capital Impact works among these CDFIs, which are funded largely by investors ranging from banks to insurance companies to foundations.

With no uniform approach for comparing CDFIs, funders have relied on a myriad of criteria developed within each organization to decide which financial institutions deserve their dollars. The Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) stepped up to fill the void with the creation of the CDFI Assessment and Rating System (CARS™ ). CARS uses an underwriting approach similar to the CAMEL rating system used for large financial institutions, but pushes beyond merely assessing financial capacity to measuring impact and policy performance.

 

After a sixth rigorous, annual review in 2012, NCB Capital Impact earned CARS’ highest rating of “1” for Financial Strength and Performance, the highest rating of “AAA” for Impact Performance and a Policy Plus for leadership in policy changes impacting disadvantaged people and communities. 

 “We are extremely proud of our CARS rating,” said Terry Simonette, President and CEO of NCB Capital Impact. “Once again, we have been recognized for our strong financial performance and social impact. It lets investors know that they can trust our programs to return their money, while making a difference in the lives of moderate to low-income people and communities. It illustrates that there is such a thing as a good investment that does good works.” 

NCB Capital Impact creates lasting economic progress with an integrated combination of innovative community lending, expert technical assistance and effective policy development. NCB Capital Impact offers financing and technical assistance for communities most in need of four critical areas: affordable homeownership, long-term care and supports, health care facilities and charter schools facilities.

 OFN’s rating system emulates long-established systems established by Moody’s and Standard and Poors for analyzing securities and offering investors tools for evaluating investment opportunities. OFN updates the ratings annually based on current financial information, and conducts a new complete review every three years.

CARS™ Official Ratings Descriptions 

Financial Strength and Performance Rating
“1” A CDFI in this group is sound in every respect. It exhibits exceptional financial strength, performance and risk management practices. Any weaknesses are minor and can be handled in a routine manner by the board of directors and management. This CDFI is resilient to significant changes in its operating environment. It generally has a score of 1 or 2 in all five of the FSP areas.

Impact Performance Rating
“AAA” A CDFI in this group has clear alignment of mission, strategies, activities, and data that guides its programs and planning. The CDFI presents data that clearly indicate that it is using its resources effectively to achieve positive impacts related to its mission. It has processes and systems that track output and outcome data on an ongoing basis, and it can provide data showing positive changes in the communities or populations being served. This CDFI uses its data on an ongoing basis to adjust strategies and activities in line with its desired impact.

Policy PlusPolicy change is an integral part of this CDFI’s strategies. The CDFI leads initiatives to change government policy to benefit the community development finance industry or disadvantaged people and communities. The CDFI can provide evidence of its leadership role in recent policy changes that produced benefits beyond additional resources for the CDFI itself, and management can clearly articulate the CDFI’s leadership role in current policy activities.

“The report will offer participating investors all the information they should need for evaluating an investment in NCB Capital Impact and reduce the amount of time both organizations spend on due diligence,” Ellis Carr, Chief Financial Officer of NCB Capital Impact. “We are an exceedingly complex organization, because unlike a standard bank we also provide technical assistance and policy development expertise. We are committed to the belief that it takes more than money to create a lasting economic impact in our communities. But we can’t do our job without capital, and the rating confirms for our investors that we are a premier organization in our industry.”


For more information about NCB Capital Impact, contact:
     Ellis Carr at (703) 647-2306.

For more information about CARS, contact:
     Paige Chapel at (206) 328-6110 or pchapel@opportunityfinance.net.