ComEd Extends Credit Agreement and Empowers Local Minority and Community Banks
Published: October 27, 2015
ComEd Extends Credit Agreement and Empowers Local Minority and Community Banks
Credit program quadruples minority bank participation helping to grow local economies
ComEd and its parent company, Exelon Corporation, have arranged credit lines totaling $123 million with 28 minority and community-owned banks in areas where ComEd and Exelon operate. These transactions help to grow local businesses and keep valuable dollars in the local economies, and are critical to many communities that are still challenged by the economic climate.
Exelon’s minority and community banking program, which began in 2003, remains unique in the energy industry. Locally, Seaway Bank and Trust Company and Illinois Bank and Trust served as lead arrangers for the $34 million credit facility for ComEd. Administered by JP Morgan Chase since its inception, the program has more than tripled in credit facility size and quadrupled the number of participating banks.
“As a company located exclusively in northern Illinois, we have a special interest in our local businesses and stimulating economic development in our communities,” said Joe Trpik, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, ComEd. “ComEd is helping to lead the charge in increasing opportunities for diversity certified suppliers. Our award-winning supplier diversity program is helping to fuel job creation in northern Illinois and stimulates competition among vendors.”
“ComEd continues to support the mission of community banks by showing their commitment to business and economic development in the communities that we serve. As an African-American woman owned institution, we are honored that Seaway Bank and Trust Company has again been given the opportunity to have had a role in arranging this credit facility for ComEd and its parent company Exelon,” said Veranda L. Dickens, Chairman of Seaway Bank and Trust Company.
“Illinois Bank & Trust is honored to be selected as one of the lead banks in Illinois to facilitate credit arrangements for Exelon,” said Illinois Bank & Trust’s President and CEO Steve Ward. “We work hard to offer lending to a diverse range of businesses -- large and small -- and to find the best avenue for each customer. We appreciate Exelon’s business and the resulting partnerships developed in our Northern Illinois region.”
Exelon and ComEd have demonstrated a commitment to supplier diversity and have made it a critical part of the company’s overall supply chain strategy. In 2014, ComEd spent $415 million with diversity certified suppliers (minority-, women- or veteran-owned suppliers), a $100 million increase over 2013.Over the last two years ComEd has increased its annual supplier diversity spend by 30 percent. Exelon’s corporate spending with diversity certified suppliers totaled more than $1.1 billion in 2014.
In addition, ComEd is a founding member and active participant in numerous diverse supplier advocacy organizations including the recently launched Illinois Utilities Business Diversity Council, Chicago Minority Supplier Development Council, Chicago United Five Forward Initiative, The Women’s Business Development Center, The Rainbow PUSH Trade Bureau, and the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
For more information on ComEd’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, visit ComEd.com.