CONTACT
Christopher Gil
Director of Strategic Communications and Influence
(415) 287-3197, cgil@liifund.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LIIF Maintains Strong S&P and Aeris Ratings
National CDFI demonstrates innovative commitment to mission while maintaining fiscal strength
SAN FRANCISCO (July 17, 2023) — The Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) has announced that S&P affirmed LIIF’s “A” Stable rating. That rating continues to reflect S&P’s opinion of “LIIF’s strengthening capital adequacy assessment, as measured by a strong and increasing net equity-to-total assets ratio.” (download S&P report.) Additionally, LIIF maintained the highest rating from Aeris. This rating continues a trend of the past two decades, signifying LIIF, a 501(c)(3), remaining a fiscally sound CDFI best positioned to weather any vicissitudes in the nation’s overall economic and financial markets.
The stellar Aeris rating for LIIF falls into three buckets, as described by that independent rating service for both financial and impact investments:
- Impact Management Performance – Four Stars ✦✦✦✦. “The CDFI has exceptional alignment of its impact mission, strategies, activities, and data that guide its lending, programs and planning. It fully and effectively uses its resources, both directly and indirectly, in pursuit of its impact mission.”
- Policy Plus. “The CDFI leads initiatives to change government policy to benefit the community development finance industry or disadvantaged people and communities.”
- Financial Strength and Performance – AAA. “The CDFI has 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. The CDFI is resilient to significant changes in its operating environment.”
“LIIF’s recent S&P and Aeris ratings reflect, once again, how we remain financially secure. This stability best positions us to continue pushing forward in our mission of ensuring everyone in the United States benefits from living in a community of opportunity, equity and well-being,” said Chief Executive Officer Daniel A. Nissenbaum at LIIF. “In 2020, recognizing capital is our greatest vehicle for impact, we committed to driving $5 billion to advance racial equity by 2030. With strong oversight and leadership from our board and executive team, our team has already driven over $1.6 billion, or one-third, of our goal. LIIF’s investors and partners can remain confident in our ability to be staunch stewards of the capital we deploy in historically excluded communities.”
Aeris’ high rating also factored in the complementary nature of LIIF’s joint venture (JV) with Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future (SAHF) and National Affordable Housing Trust (NAHT). The report cites four positions of the JV’s strength: overlapping missions; complementary investment strategies, with LIIF as a debt platform and NAHT an equity platform; diversification of LIIF’s sources of revenue, as NAHT’s revenue model is primarily fee based compared with LIIF’s largely interest-based revenue model; and innovative initiatives such as the Black Developer Capital Initiative (BDCI).
Our ability to maintain high ratings from both S&P and Aeris affirms our strong liquidity, our well-diversified capital sources of funding for lending, and LIIF’s high-quality credit underwriting and asset management; those are the foundation of our fiscal strength and performance.
LIIF Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Panagiota Mahendru
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About the Low Income Investment Fund
Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) is a national community development financial institution (CDFI), headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York City, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., that invests in communities of opportunity, equity and well-being. As a CDFI, LIIF supports projects that have high social value but lack access to traditional financial institutions. Since 1984, LIIF has deployed more than $3.2 billion to serve 2.5 million people in communities across the country from its five offices. An S&P-rated organization, LIIF funds healthy communities by providing innovative capital solutions.
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