Community Development Financial Solutions

The Merrill Lynch Community Development Company (MLCDC) provides financing solutions and support to under served communities. Leveraging Merrill Lynch's intellectual and financial capital, the MLCDC establishes strategic partnerships with business and community leaders to develop projects that benefit low- and moderate-income areas and individuals. While its activities are national in scope, the MLCDC concentrates its efforts in its three main service areas - the communities in and around Salt Lake City, Utah; Princeton, New Jersey; and New York City.

The MLCDC was formed in 2001 as a wholly owned, for-profit subsidiary of Merrill Lynch Bank USA. The MLCDC conducts business on behalf of Merrill Lynch Bank USA and Merrill Lynch Bank & Trust Co. In addition to providing financing solutions to address important community development issues, the work of the MLCDC fulfills the regulatory obligations of the Merrill Lynch banks under the Federal Community Reinvestment Act (CRA).

The MLCDC searches for lending, investment and program development opportunities and seeks collaborative partnerships with governmental and quasi-governmental entities, non-profit and for-profit intermediaries and other financial institutions in a broad range of community development activities. The MLCDC's team of dedicated professionals has expertise in many areas, including community based lending, investment banking, real estate finance and development, economic development, and community outreach.

Consistent with the Merrill Lynch banks' designation as wholesale banking institutions, the MLCDC generally lends and invests through intermediaries and funds rather than on a direct basis. Its initiatives are geared towards facilitating affordable housing development, economic development, small business development, neighborhood revitalization and the provision of community services. Among the MLCDC's goals is to strike a balance between financial return and community impact.

The MLCDC's products include:

  • Construction loan participations
  • Short-and medium-term real estate financings
  • Warehouse lines of credit
  • Real estate funds
  • Small business investment funds
  • Tax credit funds
  • Loan funds
  • Mortgage portfolios
  • Loans, notes, securities and bonds

The MLCDC believes that leadership and the commitment of intellectual capital to solve problems are as vital to community development as providing capital itself. Together with its partners, the MLCDC strives to pioneer initiatives that will make a positive difference in the community. Examples of the MLCDC's work include:

  • Creating an innovative financial structure to preserve affordable housing
  • Developing new funding sources for non-profits engaged in workforce development
  • Designing a prototype for a charter school financing intermediary
  • Introducing innovative primary health care facility financing to new markets