TARP opens its doors to small banks

By Geert De Lombaerde Posted on October 22, 2009 at 7:11 am

But small banks aren’t rushing to line up for President Obama’s proposed expansion of the SBA’s main lending program. And in moves reminiscent of the ongoing health reform debate, other proposals already are making the rounds.

“There are different ways to skin this cat,” said the Senator, who suggested the creation of a $50 billion loan pool that would combine TARP funds, Federal Reserve loans and bank contributions that lenders could use to service small businesses. That idea has gained the support of about 30 other senators.

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Tags: banking, commercial banking, financial regulation, government stimulus, small business, TARP, Troubled Assets Relief Program, U.S. Small Business Administration  

Delayin’ and prayin’

By Geert De Lombaerde Posted on July 27, 2009 at 6:38 am

Just as banks are (maybe) getting over the worst of the housing market’s troubles, more and more people are raising red flags about the sector’s CRE exposure. And bankers may not be helping themselves by dragging their feet on loans gone bad.

“The rate at which these troubled loans are being resolved has been sluggish,” James Helsel, treasurer of the National Association of Realtors, told the Joint Economic Committee July 10. “Over $60 billion in assets have become distressed this year but only $4 billion worth of commercial loans have been resolved so far.”

SEE ALSO: The billions the SBA had to buy back from lenders last year.

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Tags: banking, commercial real estate, lending, loan losses, National Association of Realtors, special assets, U.S. Small Business Administration  

Before the meltdown

By Geert De Lombaerde Posted on May 27, 2009 at 4:31 pm

This time next year, these numbers — pointed out to us by Jeff Cornwall — will be a lot more interesting. For now, consider them a pre-financial crisis baseline.

The chart below shows the top small-business lenders in Tennessee in the year ended June 30, 2008 based on data collected under the Community Reinvestment Act. The figures in the first column depict the dollar volume, in thousands, of loans made by each bank. The right column is the number of loans made.

More stats and research reports from the SBA are available here.

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Tags: entrepreneurship, small business, small-business lending, U.S. Small Business Administration  

Time to help small biz

By Geert De Lombaerde Posted on March 16, 2009 at 11:10 pm

The Obama administration on Monday raised some eyebrows with its plan to help get the small-business lending market going again. Central to the idea are higher loan guarantees and $15 billion of TARP money to add liquidity to the secondary market for SBA loans.

“There were two things I liked: the help for the securitization markets, and the President’s call to make the banks report how much lending they are doing,” said Keith Ashmus, a Cleveland-based attorney and chairman of the National Small Business Assn. “We are seeing business after business with a history of promptly paying their bills just get their credit lines canceled.”

Kent Hoover has a different take on just how much of an impact the plan might have.

Given the weak state of the economy, however, it is not clear how many small businesses want to borrow money at this time. A survey of small business owners conducted last month for Discover Financial Services found that 23 percent said they would be very likely to apply for an SBA loan if they became easier to get. Another 17 percent said it was somewhat likely they would apply for an SBA loan.

The survey found, however, that 90 percent of small businesses had never applied for an SBA loan.

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Tags: banking, credit, government stimulus, recession, small business, TARP, Troubled Assets Relief Program, U.S. Small Business Administration  

State’s small firms lag in job creation

By Geert De Lombaerde Posted on January 25, 2009 at 9:23 pm

That could be one quick takeaway from this release from the Small Business Administration. It shows that the state’s small firms created about 40 percent of all net jobs in 2005 — half the national average.

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Tags: employment, small business, U.S. Small Business Administration