First Republic Bank recently announced two new community lending officers, including one in Boston, who will focus specifically on working with underserved borrowers and communities.
Michele Cazeau, who has 15 years of banking experience, was named community outreach relationship manager in Boston. Charlene Van Horn, an attorney who has managed First Republic’s Compliance Monitoring Function and previously worked for the San Francisco Federal Reserve, was named fair and responsible banking officer.
Van Horn and Cazeau are part of a growing team of community lending officers focused on community outreach in the bank’s urban, coastal markets. First Republic said in an announcement that it is in the process of hiring additional community lending officers and expanding its community lending program.
“Charlene, Michele and our growing team of community lending officers support our long-standing commitment to providing credit to individuals and businesses in underserved communities,” Ed Dobranski, executive vice president and general counsel, said in a statement. “The expansion of our community lending team and the successful launch of our new Eagle Community Home Loan program and other initiatives are part of our strategic objective to further serve minority and low- to moderate-income borrowers and communities.”
The bank launched Eagle Community Home Loan in December last year to help boost the diversity of its lending portfolio. The program offers highly competitive interest rates to home borrowers for the purchase or re-finance of a primary residence and includes up to $7,000 of closing costs and offers a wide range of personalized banking services.
Through June 30, First Republic has funded almost 200 Eagle Community loans and has a significant volume of such loans in its pipeline. All Eagle Community loans were originated in majority African American or Hispanic census tracts. Nearly half of these community loans were made to minority borrowers, and the median average Eagle Community loan amount is currently $358,000.
