The WIFIA Bank

By John Ryan

The 2020 Annual Report of the EPA’s WIFIA loan program is a good read, and not just because it’s short and largely graphical. It’s a series of positive snapshots, including impressive aggregate stats, highlights from closed loans and summaries of new features. The overall impression is that of a federal program that’s working very well on multiple fronts, from responsive product development for borrowers to the intricacies of transaction execution within a federal bureaucracy. WIFIA continued to operate efficiently and even in increasing scale in 2020, despite the unprecedented challenges of COVID-19.