The Federal Reserve System is trying to be proactive in these and other high-profile areas, offering educational materials and coaching to bank execs and directors, according to supervision officials at the St. Louis and Richmond Fed banks.
Big banks are expected to report that commercial lending weakened in the third quarter thanks to tax cuts, nonbank competition and seasonal factors. It raises questions about whether the second-quarter rally was an anomaly and if an overall economic slowdown is edging closer.
Bank Novo isn't a business lender (lots of firms already do that) or an account provider (it has a bank partner for that). Instead, it provides small businesses tools to track and analyze their banking activities.
The agency's 7(a) program had a small year-over-year decline, with bankers pointing to lender discipline and more borrowers qualifying for conventional loans.
Speaking at an industry conference Thursday, two tech executives and a community banker said that community banks should be allowed to experiment with new products without worrying about running afoul of regulators.
The Community Bank Sentiment Index, an outgrowth of a yearly survey conducted by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, is intended to bring attention to market conditions and how they affect small banks' growth prospects.
