Banking and Finance Law Daily Wrap Up, FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM—Fed’s Barr highlights data gaps and collaboration needs of Native American communities, (Oct 9, 2025)

Shashi Kant, BALLB, LLM.

Barr outlines Fed research priorities, citing limited financial access, employment disparities, and the importance of accurate tribal economic data.

Federal Reserve Board Governor Michael S. Barr addressed persistent economic gaps in tribal communities, the challenges of inadequate data collection in Native American communities, and the decade of research advancement by the Center for Indian Country Development (CICD), speaking at the Center’s tenth anniversary and data summit in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Remarks and institutional role. Barr spoke in his capacity as the oversight governor for the Fed’s Division of Consumer and Community Affairs, which manages the System’s community development function. He said this function supports economic research, data collection, and policy analysis for underserved areas, including tribal communities. He stated that community development work has been a consistent part of his professional career at the Treasury Department, in academia, and now at the Fed.

Field engagement and observed conditions. Barr referenced a 2023 visit to western Montana reservations with CICD staff, including the Blackfeet and Flathead Indian Reservations. During that visit, he met with tribal government and enterprise officials to discuss credit access, small business financing, and local economic diversification. He said the discussions highlighted continuing barriers such as housing shortages, limited bank branch presence, and long distances to financial service centers.

Economic indicators and gaps. Citing the Fed research, Barr noted that Native American households report lower emergency savings levels than the national average. According to the Fed’s Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED), Native households are less likely than other households to be able to cover a $400 expense with available cash or savings. Unemployment among Native American workers also remains higher than the overall U.S. rate.

Barr added that a limited number of financial institutions operate near reservations, reducing local access to capital and credit. He referenced data showing that Native-owned small businesses are less likely to receive full funding when applying for credit and that they often request smaller amounts than non-Native applicants. He said Native homeowners face higher mortgage and ownership costs.

He also cited the uneven recovery of tribal economies from the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that gaming and entertainment revenues, major funding sources for some tribes, declined sharply in 2020 and 2021 and took longer to recover than national aggregates.

Coordination and data infrastructure. Barr stated that addressing persistent economic disparities requires collaboration among tribal governments, federal and state agencies, private lenders, and research institutions. He recalled his work in the late 1990s at the U.S. Treasury Department, where he co-chaired an interagency group that identified and reduced barriers to mortgage lending in Native American communities, with pilot programs at the Navajo Nation and the Oglala Sioux Pine Ridge Reservation.

He said many tribal governments have since developed new economic and data systems to support policy decisions. He cited Native community development financial institutions (CDFIs) as key lenders that combine cultural knowledge with standard financial practices. He also referenced evidence of employment and income growth in Native economies, while emphasizing the need for accurate, timely, and disaggregated data by tribal area and demographic group.

Challenges in data collection. Barr said data coverage on tribal economies remains incomplete. He used the term “asterisk nation” to describe how Native populations are sometimes excluded from national datasets because of small sample sizes. He noted that in earlier decades, external researchers used tribal data without consent, contributing to mistrust between Native communities and research institutions. He said many tribal governments lack dedicated statistical resources to collect and maintain their own datasets.

CICD research initiatives. Barr described recent CICD research and data tools that analyze credit access, infrastructure gaps such as broadband, and the structure of tribal treasuries and enterprises. CICD, housed at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, has released interactive data dashboards to help tribal officials and community organizations track economic indicators. Barr said CICD’s studies are developed in collaboration with tribal governments, Native organizations, and other Federal Reserve researchers.

Relationship to broader U.S. economy. Barr stated that economic conditions in tribal communities influence surrounding regional economies. He cited examples where tribal enterprises contract with non-Native businesses and where gaming or tourism operations attract non-local customers, creating spillover employment. He said that Fed’s community development efforts extend to all low- and moderate-income areas, including tribal jurisdictions, consistent with the Fed’s statutory mandate to support stable employment and financial inclusion.

Policy and oversight context. Barr linked community development research to the Fed’s broader policymaking. He said the Federal Open Market Committee benefits from understanding how diverse communities experience economic change. He referenced the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), which requires banks to meet credit needs of their entire communities, and said effective implementation depends on reliable data and analysis.

Concluding statements. Barr concluded by noting examples of innovation within tribal governments, including the establishment of tribally owned banks and CDFIs, use of data in service delivery, and reinvestment of business revenues into local infrastructure and education. He said the CICD event offers an opportunity for data practitioners and policymakers to share research that strengthens community decision-making.

RegulatoryActivity: FederalReserveSystem