Underbanked Strategy Guide Released by NCIF's Retail Financial Services Initiative; Results from Three Year Study Show Promising Paths to Acquire New Customers.

CHICAGO -- "From the Margins to the Mainstream: A Guide to Building Products and Strategies for Underbanked Markets," was released today by the National Community Investment Fund (NCIF). Designed as a strategy guide for banks and credit unions, it is based on results from the Retail Financial Services Initiative (RFSI), in which a specially selected group of banks and credit unions tested a broad spectrum of products and processes to determine what works best in the real world to achieve a variety of acquisition goals. The guide draws on case studies from RFSI participants, covering both the accomplishments and obstacles financial institutions can learn from in developing their own programs.

In conjunction with the guide's release, RFSI participants join Jennifer Tescher, Director of The Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI), in a pre-conference workshop at the 28th Annual BAI Retail Delivery Conference & Expo on Tuesday, November 15, 2005. Entitled, "Growing Customers and Profitability: How to Target and Acquire Underbanked Customers," the workshop offers the perspective of bank and credit union CEOs on developing, managing and succeeding with initiatives aimed at emerging markets.

"By looking at both the supply and demand sides of the underbanked issue, RFSI's strategy guide offers financial institutions unique insights into developing new products and services that not only meet the liquidity and asset building needs of low-income households, but also hold the promise of establishing rewarding, long-term customer relationships," said Phyllis Caldwell, President, Bank of America Community Development Banking and NCIF Trustee.

The guide is available at http://www.ncif.org/strategyguide. For more information on the strategy guide or RFSI, visit www.ncif.org, call NCIF at 312-881-5851 or email [e-mail]. For more information on the workshop at BAI Retail Delivery, go to www.bai.org/retaildelivery. The strategy guide can also be accessed on the CFSI web site at http://www.cfsinnovation.com/publications.php.

About NCIF:

National Community Investment Fund is certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) created in 1996 to invest equity and debt in banks, thrifts and credit unions with a primary mission of community development. NCIF's mission is to increase the number and capacity of domestic, depository institutions that are both effective agents of local community development in distressed communities and sound financial institutions. NCIF has helped to direct over $620 million to the community development banking sector, including $20 million of its own capital and $600 million in Federal Bank Enterprise, CDFI Fund, and New Markets Tax Credit awards.