A community group has secured a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to probe banks’ small-business lending practices. It follows a 2017 pilot study in which the group found that white shoppers posing as business owners were three times more likely to be invited for follow-up appointments than their black counterparts and twice as likely to be offered help in completing loan applications.
It’s too soon to gauge the true impact of recent tax cuts on loan demand, but anecdotes from bankers suggest that, after months of stagnation, pipelines are filling up again.
The online small-business lender is enjoying a payoff from its year-old push to cut costs and tighten underwriting standards. It is also set to announce another lending agreement with a major bank this year, its CEO said Tuesday.
Marquette Bank is proof that community banks don't have to be the fastest or flashiest to compete with online lenders. Instead, the Chicago bank closely mirrored fintech offerings while promoting personal service to set itself apart.
Patriot National in Connecticut planned to build a regional small-business lending operation on its own — until it had a chance to buy a national platform.
Patriot National in Connecticut would become the latest community bank to ramp up small-business lending with its $81 million deal to acquire Hana Financial's much larger SBA lending unit.
Its small, locally owned banks were as decimated after the crisis as in any big city. But community bankers say changes to the economy and their lending practices offer them a shot at challenging the big banks that dominate their market.
Credit standards for commercial loans to medium and large firms showed some signs of easing over the last three months of 2017, even though demand stayed relatively unchanged.
Seacoast Commerce is San Diego is already one of the biggest Small Business Administration lenders — half the loans on its books are tied to SBA programs. But will its underwriting hold up outside its traditional markets?
