In Brief: Study of Sector Planned for Next Winter

MARIETTA, Ga. - The consulting firm Benchmark 2000 said it has begun organizing a study of small-business lending to be conducted next winter.

It said the project, called the Small-Business Lending Benchmark Program, will have a structure similar to that of a recent consumer lending study in which 12 of the top 25 U.S. financial institutions participated.

Its aim is to help financial institutions measure themselves in various "core processes" and make decisions on such issues as staff utilization, technology purchases, and whether to make loan evaluations in a centralized or decentralized manner.

Benchmark 2000 says the data collection stage of the program usually requires less than a week on each bank's premises. Because the program lets participants see their peers' performance, all proprietary data and results presented to participants are coded to prevent linking results to banks' names.

Jim McGarvey, president of Benchmark 2000, said process benchmarking can be "especially productive" in small-business lending "because, as a stand- alone product, it is a relatively young business area for lenders and has historically been integrated with other financial services such as commercial lending."

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