The U.S. Department of the Treasury today released a new report showing that, nationwide, participants receiving capital through the Small Business Lending Fund (SBLF) boosted small business lending by $9.0 billion over baseline levels since the depths of the recession. Michigan-based SBLF participants have increased their small business lending by over $277.1 million, also over baseline levels, including a $56.2 million increase in the first quarter of 2013. Last month, Treasury released the First Annual SBLF Lending Survey, which estimated that SBLF participants have increased small business lending by an estimated 38,000 additional loans through the end of 2012, across all industries and in every region of the country.
“The Obama Administration’s Small Business Lending Fund is supporting credit to tens of thousands of American small businesses as they invest, expand and hire in every region of the country,” said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Neal Wolin. “The program has supported increases in small business lending by Main Street banks to Main Street small businesses, helping to power the economic recovery in communities across America.”
Community banks participating in SBLF have increased total business lending by 41.5 percent, versus a 5.5 percent median increase for a representative peer group of similar banks across median measures of size, geography, loan type, and financial condition. Increases in small business lending have also been widespread across SBLF participants, with 91 percent having increased their small business lending over baseline levels. In the first quarter of 2013, SBLF participants increased their lending by $206 million nationwide.
Small businesses play a critical role in the U.S. economy and are central to growth and job creation. In the aftermath of the recession and credit crisis, small business owners faced disproportionate challenges, including difficulty accessing capital.
The SBLF program, established as part of the Small Business Jobs Act that President Obama signed into law in 2010, encourages community banks to increase their lending to small businesses, helping those companies expand their operations and create new jobs. Treasury invested more than $4 billion in 332 institutions through the SBLF. Collectively, these institutions operate in more than 3,000 locations across 48 states. This report includes information on the 317 institutions that continued to participate in the program as of April 30, 2013, including 267 community banks and 50 community development loan funds.
SBLF encourages lending to small businesses by providing capital to community banks and CDLFs with less than $10 billion in assets. The dividend or interest rate a community bank pays on SBLF funding is reduced as the bank increases its lending to small businesses – providing a strong incentive for new lending to small businesses so that these firms can expand and create jobs. Individual community banks can reduce the rate they pay to one percent if they increase qualified small business lending by 10 percent over their baseline.
To view the report, including a list of the change in lending at banks receiving SBLF capital, please click here.
The SBLF program is one part of the Obama Administration’s comprehensive agenda to help small businesses access the capital they need to invest and hire. Treasury also administers the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI), which allocates $1.5 billion to state programs designed to leverage private financing to spur $15 billion in new lending to small businesses and small manufacturers.
For more information on the Obama Administration’s small business initiatives, please visit www.sba.gov. For more information on SBLF, please visit www.treasury.gov/sblf.
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