By Christin Evans, HANC Board
San Francisco is on track to have its own bank in a few short years. This past month, the San Francisco Reinvestment Working Group released two draft business plans. The first plan is for a San Francisco Public Bank and details how the city will leverage its financial assets to expand lending for affordable housing, small enterprise and climate action. The second plan is for the bank’s precursor entity, a Municipal Finance Corporation (MFC), which will demonstrate the financial viability of the city running its own financial institution before the city applies for approvals from federal and state banking regulators to create a Public Bank.
The city does after all already run a public utility and an airport, so why not a bank? The plans which are now available for review and public comment can be found online for the MFC here: Municipal Finance Corporation Draft Plan and the Public Bank here: Public Bank Draft Plan
An extensive explanation of why an MFC/Public Bank is needed and a market analysis of where traditional for-profit banks are failing to address the lending needs of all San Franciscans is included in both plans. Examples of specific loan products and the governance structure that will oversee the banks operations are included as well. And finally both plans include financial projections including the capitalization requirements to get the financial institutions started along with a long list of possible sources the city might use for their initial funding.
Feedback on the MFC plan will be accepted through the end of March and on the Public Bank by the end of May when the working group will submit final plans to the Board of Supervisors. Feedback can be submitted by email to the working group’s policy analyst Khalid Samarrae at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by public comment at the March 23 meeting. The agenda for the March 23 meeting should be posted here by March 20: Reinvestment Working Group Agendas and Minutes .