Finally, the third institution, the First Nations Finance Authority (FNFA), combines the first two elements to help secure low-cost financing by collateralizing community revenue streams and issuing highly rated debentures to the market. This arrangement represents a First Nations-led framework to get around many of the systemic barriers that continue to impede access to credit, investment and development in First Nations communities.
Chart 2: Recent FNFA bond spreads are comparable with similar Canadian municipal bonds Spread over sovereign benchmark Basis points 150  130  110  90  70  50 2016  2017 FNFA rolling spreads  Note: FNFA is the First Nations Finance Authority.