Small business lending

Funding Circle US fought to win a coveted license to make SBA 7(a) loans only to see its London-based parent company agree to a sale before it could make its first government-guaranteed loan

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau extended the deadline for lenders with the highest volume of small-business loans to July 18, 2025, and will not assess penalties for reporting errors for a year.

The Canadian institution will offer cross-border banking services, financing, wealth management and more with its new TD Innovation Partners platform.

Rather than fueling uncertainty, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should be devising strategies that facilitate clearer policies that bring more certainty to lending markets.

While the $800 billion in PPP loans has largely self-liquidated through the forgiveness process, SBA continues to service the longer-duration EIDL portfolio and will likely be doing so for years to come after opting to hold on to the loans.

The small business lender's bankrupt shell has agreed to pay up to $120 million in connection with allegations that its verification processes for Paycheck Protection Program loan applications were faulty. The government argued that Kabbage reaped larger fees by enabling fraudulently inflated loans.

Bank stocks are up this year as interest rates have leveled off and there are hopes that pressure on lenders' profits could moderate.

Banks maintain lists of consulting firms that they trust to help troubled commercial borrowers to fix their businesses. These specialists say they're getting more calls, especially in areas such as multifamily and CRE, from business owners who need help.

Isabel Casillas Guzman, administrator of the Small Business Administration, wants the agency to get involved in direct lending, a practice that was discontinued during the Clinton administration. Congress has not embraced the idea, to put it mildly.

Republicans on the House and Senate Small Business committees are accusing the SBA of being irresponsible in granting Funding Circle permission to participate in its flagship loan-guarantee program.