Advancing the Mentor-Protégé Program for Small Financial Institutions Act

This bill creates a mentor-protégé program at the Treasury Department to help small, minority, and rural banks build skills and better serve their customers. Large banks and Treasury-designated financial agents can coach smaller institutions so they’re ready to act as federal financial agents or to strengthen day-to-day services in their communities . Treasury must hold outreach events at least once a year, can remove participants who don’t meet standards, and must report yearly on participation and outreach through its Office of Minority and Women Inclusion .

Who counts as “large” or “small”? Large financial institutions have $50 billion or more in assets. Small financial institutions have $2 billion or less, and this group includes minority depository institutions and rural depository institutions; rural depository institutions have under $10 billion in assets and are located in rural areas. The program takes effect 90 days after it becomes law.

Key points

• Who is affected: Small, minority, and rural banks; large banks and federal financial agents that can serve as mentors; Treasury’s Office of Minority and Women Inclusion for reporting .
• What changes: A formal mentoring program to prepare small banks to serve the federal government or improve customer services; annual outreach; possible exclusion of participants who don’t meet rules; annual reporting to Congress .
• When: Starts 90 days after enactment.