CNN Money.com reports that a new player is charging into the arid landscape of banks willing to lend to franchise operators. Bancorp Bank, based in Wilmington, Del., said this week that it will launch a new program specifically targeting startup and expanding franchises.
Read More »David Cho of the Washington Post writes that in March 2009, President Obama vowed to address the drought of bank lending to small companies and announced an initiative to use $15 billion from the federal bailout to unfreeze the markets that finance Small Business Administration loans
Read More »Kent Hoover of Biz Journals writes at MSN Money that government guaranteesthe b and reduced fees that revived U.S. Small Business Administration lending are going away again, at least for a while
Read More »A unit of Citizens Financial Group recently reported a full-year net loss of $600.4 million for 2009 after charging off more than $2 billion in bad loans. RBS Citizens, the No. 2 retail bank in Massachusetts, disclosed the loss in a financial report filed with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The bank was not available to comment for this story
Read More »President Obama puts economy, small businesses, and job creation at the center of his State of the Union address.
Read More »Portfolio.com reports that after weeks of talk about the credit crunch facing small businesses, Washington finally is doing something about it.
Read More »David Cho writes in the Washington Post that the Obama administration plans to channel money from the government’s massive financial bailout program to small businesses as part of an effort to limit the political and economic damage of high unemployment. One plan under consideration involves spinning off a new entity from the Troubled Assets Relief Program that would give banks access to federal funds without restrictions, including limits on executive pay, as long as the money was used to support loans to small businesses. But officials are not yet certain whether carving the program out of TARP would be the best way to encourage banks to boost small-business lending, according to sources familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plans are not final.
Read More »The construction of a Dunkin’ Donuts in the LaGrange town center remains at a standstill due to lack of capital. “The bank pulled the financing,” said Nick Palumbo, co-developer of the project on Route 55, next to Arlington High School. After receiving town Planning Board approval in June to build the Dunkin’ Donuts, Palumbo and co-developer Joe Deangelis made rapid progress in constructing the foundation and frame of the two-story structure.
Read More »The Obama administration is strongly urging Capitol Hill to add new funds to a popular small-business loan program that is nearly out of money. As part of the $787 billion fiscal stimulus package earlier this year, lawmakers included $375 million to support Small Business Administration (SBA) programs to spur lending through higher guarantees and reduced fees. The administration credits the programs with helping to rejuvenate lending for small businesses. Loan volumes under the program had crashed during the financial crisis last fall and winter. But the programs have been so popular this year that they are running out of money several months early.
Read More »Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner spent most of the day Wednesday with small-business owners and bankers, discussing ways to ease the credit crunch that’s stifling economic recovery on Main Street. Geithner and Karen Mills, head of the Small Business Administration, hosted the Small Business Financing Forum, fulfilling a promise President Barack Obama made when he announced initiatives last month to boost lending to small businesses.
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