This Use of Funds report shows that participants receiving capital through the
fund boosted lending for the seventh straight quarter. In total, fund
participants have increased small business lending by about $8.9 billion since
the depths of the recession in 2009. This increased lending represents an
estimated 38,000 additional small-business loans over baseline levels. To view
this information graphically, as well as detail on the increased lending across
all regions,
click here. "In every region of the country, the Obama administration's Small Business
Lending Fund is supporting small and family-owned businesses with the funds they
need to create jobs and grow," said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Neal Wolin.
"This quarter's report shows that SBLF participants are continuing to help
thousands of small businesses invest, hire and expand in their local
communities."
The report also shows that Small Business Lending Fund participants increased
their lending by $1.5 billion more than the prior quarter, representing the
second-highest increase since the start of the program. Community banks
participating in SBLF have increased business lending by 38 percent, a
substantially greater amount than a peer group of similar banks across median
measures of size, geography and loan type.
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 Small Business Lending Fund, 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 fund. Collectively, these institutions
operate in more than 3,000 locations across 48 states. The new report includes
information on the 320 institutions that continue to participate in the program
as of March 15, including 270 community banks and 50 community development loan
funds.
[to top of second column] |
The Small Business Lending Fund 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. As of Dec. 31, 2012, the average rate paid by community
banks on SBLF capital was 1.8 percent. Individual community banks can reduce the
rate they pay to 1 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,
click here.
The Small Business Lending Fund 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, 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, visit www.sba.gov. For more information on the Small Business
Lending Fund, visit www.treasury.gov/sblf.
[Text from
news
release received from the U.S.
Department of the Treasury]
|