Small business lending

Camino Financial and Fundation, which are combining, serve distinct slices of the small business market. The deal's architects say it will enable the combined firm to provide more financing options to entrepreneurs, and they argue that now is a good time to lean into small business lending.

With a week left in its 2023 fiscal year, the Small Business Administration has already approved 12% more 7(a) loans than last year. Larger banks were among the biggest gainers as a result, according to the agency's latest data.

A movement is afoot to transfer the job of the Federal Home Loan banks to the Federal Reserve. This would be a disaster for small lenders.

Uplinq, which helps lenders make credit decisions for small business owners using alternative data, already has large global banks among its clientele.

A new state regulation brings consumer-style rules to the small business realm, extending California regulators' ability to crack down on nonbank lenders that engage in questionable practices. Observers believe that it could be a model for other states.

The product, which is both popular and controversial in consumer financial services, is attracting interest from merchants that don't want to pay high interest for a traditional loan.

Many small-business lenders have less than 18 months to figure out how to gather and report on an extensive array of data.

Critics complain a bill sponsored by the leaders of the Senate Small Business Committee would reinstate a moratorium on participation in the SBA's flagship 7(a) program by nondepository lenders. Supporters of the bill argue that widening the program could invite more fraud.

A federal judge has temporarily stopped the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from implementing its small-business data collection rule until after the Supreme Court rules next year on whether the bureau's funding is constitutional.

The Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee voted nearly unanimously to advance a bill that would halt a plan by the Small Business Administration to open up some of its loan programs to fintech companies.