- December 20, 2021
- Posted by: Stratford Team
- Category: Business
Southern Bancorp is expanding on a number of fronts. The Arkadelphia-based Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) is about to receive a major equity investment from a new federal fund, has launched a minority business initiative with Arkansas banks, will open a banking center in Little Rock, and will expand its reach with a recent new hire.
CEO Darrin Williams was a guest on this week’s Talk Business & Politics to discuss the changes.
For starters, Southern Bancorp learned this week it is eligible for $237.5 million in equity investment from an $8.7 billion U.S. Treasury effort called the Emergency Capital Investment Program (ECIP). The program was created to help businesses hurt by COVID-19. Williams calls the investment “a transformational game-changer” and said it will allow Southern to put more money into small and minority-owned businesses in the underserved communities in which it operates.
“It’s really designed to help…
