Don't underestimate how lonely and messy entrepreneurship is, Walter said at American Banker's Small Biz Banking conference.

Bankers should stop thinking of small companies as difficult to serve, Comerica's Brian Haney says; "How does succeeding in small business make the retail bank stronger?"

Small Business Administration lending is an arena where community banks and nonbanks compete favorably with some of the largest U.S. financial institutions. Here are the biggest SBA 7(a) lenders based on the value of approved loans.

But high costs and any downturn in the economy could weigh on lenders and their commercial borrowers in coming months, economists caution.

Flagstar Bank promotes newly hired Jason Birnbaum; Finstar Financial tops $1billion-asset threshold with acquisition of Sitgler; digital platform Bluevine launches checking account for high balances; and more in the weekly banking news roundup.

Banks across the spectrum of size and location serve small businesses — but they all do it differently. At American Banker's Small Biz Banking 2023 conference in Nashville from November 13-15, banks of all sizes will come together to share ideas, learn from experts and hear from bankers in the field who are doing it best. 

Los Angeles-based Lendistry — in less than two years — became the largest Black-run 7(a) lender. Its CEO credits a concerted effort by the Small Business Administration to reach out to minority lenders and businesses, whose participation in the lending program is growing.

The proposal fails to account for the needs of small and medium-size businesses, which depend on banking data connectivity to keep their operations running.

This week the Small Business Administration followed through with a controversial policy change by granting access to its flagship 7(a) program to three additional nonbank lenders. These new participants vowed to ramp up their small-business lending efforts.

An advocate for retail merchants takes issue with a BankThink article criticizing the Credit Card Competition Act.