Government has an exciting opening to use its unprecedented reach and newfound trust among small-business owners to connect entrepreneurs with sources of capital that can help them grow.

Nearly half of all small-business owners — and higher percentages of minority entrepreneurs — said in a new survey that they aren’t sure they could come up with the funds to cover an emergency $5,000 business expense. But the results also suggest that the Paycheck Protection Program may have led to more trust in the Small Business Administration.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture expects farm profits to drop by 8% this year due to multiple factors, creating credit quality questions for ag banks.

Over the past year, BofA has launched or enhanced a slew of technology-based features for business clients of all sizes, from a “start a business” microsite to cash-flow forecasting.

After failing to win funding for a direct-lending program last year, Small Business Administration chief Isabella Casillas Guzman says the agency continues to study the option because banks and credit unions are making fewer small-dollar 7(a) loans than several years ago.

Banks need to advocate for the advancement of women-owned small businesses. Our economic diversity depends on it.

Lenders don't oppose CFPB data collection for small-business loans but favor changes that would minimize unintended consequences for borrowers, a Consumer Bankers Association official writes.

The Columbus, Ohio, bank, which already makes more loans than any other lender in the Small Business Administration's flagship program, is testing a plan to offer them outside of its Midwestern footprint.

The Georgia bank warns that the one-two punch of rising inflation and supply-chain issues on its smaller commercial customers makes that asset class “something we would watch” for potential losses.

California and New York were the first states to require the disclosure of certain pricing information to small-business borrowers. But as Utah, Virginia and other states add regulations for nonbank lenders, a fault line has emerged over the use of annual percentage rates.