Summit State Bank in California Exits SBLF Program

Summit State Bank in Santa Rosa, Calif., has exited the Small Business Lending Fund.

The $492 million-asset bank paid about $1.38 million to redeem 13,750 shares, according to a Wednesday news release. That represented all of Summit's outstanding preferred stock in the SBLF program.

Summit initially issued the SBLF shares to the Treasury Department in Aug. 4, 2011. Summit is the latest bank to exit the SBLF program, as low interest rates give smaller banks an affordable way to redeem their shares.

The SBLF program's dividend rate initially started at 5%. However, Summit and some other banks lowered that rate to 1%, by increasing loans to businesses with less than $50 million in annual revenues.