Huntington Exceeds Small-Business Loan Goals

By Chris Cumming March 19, 2013, 12:59 p.m. EDT 1 Min Read

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Huntington Bancshares (HBAN) has made good on a 2010 commitment to small-business lending.

The Columbus, Ohio, company announced Tuesday that it has exceeded its three-year pledge to lend $4 billion to small businesses across its six-state footprint. Since 2010, Huntington has issued over 24,000 small-business loans throughout Ohio, Michigan Indiana, western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky, it said.

The $56 billion-asset Huntington has made several other public commitments to small-business lending. In June 2011, it pledged $2 billion to small business in Michigan over four years, and in September 2011, it joined 12 other banks in promising a combined $20 billion in small-business lending at an event in Ohio with Vice President Joe Biden. It also made a $100 million commitment to affordable-housing in Michigan in March 2012.

"We're developing a nice reputation as a small-business lender throughout our region. We have small-business owners calling us throughout our region who want to partner with us," said business banking director Ken Connell. "In 2010, these states were just reeling from the recession and hoping for a rebound, and we stood by them. Now they're in a position to recover very strongly."

Of the $4 billion in loans, about 20% were made with the assistance of a Small Business Administration program, Connell estimated. Huntington was the nation's No. 3 SBA lender in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.

Small-business lending has rebounded strongly this year. Small banks approved just over 50% of small-business loans in February, up slightly from the month before, while banks with $10 billion or more approved nearly 16% of the loans, also higher than the previous month, according to Biz2Credit, a New York firm that matches borrowers with lenders.

Citigroup (NYSE:C), Bank of America (BAC), JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC) are among the other banks that have boosted lending to small businesses. All four companies reported double-digit increases in their small-business lending in 2012 compared to 2011.

Chris Cumming