Small business lending

Asenso Finance and a community development financial institution, the National Asian American Coalition, have developed a loan aimed at borrowers with limited credit histories. The underwriting relies in part on alternative data and borrowers are required to take financial literacy courses.

A few changes to underwriting rules could result in a huge opportunity for both lenders and minority women who own businesses.

U.K. authorities expect to recover as much as 2 billion pounds ($2.7 billion) of fraudulent COVID loans over the next year, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said on Tuesday.

On Jun. 30, 2021. Dollars in thousands.

A new proposal to allow the Small Business Administration to offer credit directly would pull customers away from community lenders, writes the head of a credit union trade group.

Allowing the Small Business Administration to originate, rather than just guarantee, loans would provide much-needed capital to startups and mom-and-pop shops that many banks, credit unions and other lenders view as risky credits.

Commercial borrowers are leaning more often on alternative lenders that provide better speed and flexibility. At the same time, some banks are turning their backs on what has long been a bread-and-butter business.

The Cincinnati bank, which last month closed its purchase of the health care lender Provide, has raised its estimate for the unit’s 2021 loan volume.

Banks that embraced their role as a conduit for Paycheck Protection Program loans were likelier to take more risk elsewhere, according to new research by three accounting professors. “Anytime you have that amount of money flowing through the bank, it’s going to affect behavior,” one of the authors said.