Small business

A Senate bill passed late Thursday provides additional funding but it also requires enhanced reporting on lending and credit quality from SBA. The measure is headed to the House.

The SBA's popular 7(a) program has reached its maximum funding authority. Banks may have to decide on providing short-term aid to small businesses that face delays getting loans.

A fifth of the financial institutions that participated in the Small Business Lending Fund have fully left the program and an increasing number of banks are joining them before the dividend rate jumps to 9% next year.

If Congress fails to act swiftly, most lending supported by the SBA will shut down for much of the next two months. This would undermine recent strength in a vital component of the American economy.

Equal-opportunity small business lending can go a long way toward helping minority groups rebuild the wealth lost during the Great Recession. The CFPB has delayed implementing reporting requirements that could close the credit gap for far too long.

The Spanish-language TV channel Univision has launched a new online small-business lending platform.

Marketplace lending company Lending Club is teaming up with a California-based nonprofit organization to make loans to small businesses that otherwise would have had their applications rejected.

As part of its proposed sale to Royal Bank of Canada, City National has made a big Community Reinvestment Act commitment, which includes targeting small-business loans at the minority- and women-owned suppliers of three power companies.

First Resource Bank in Exton, Pa., plans to raise $6 million through a combination of common stock and subordinated debt to raise funds to redeem most of its Small Business Lending Fund preferred shares.

City National Bank in Los Angeles will provide $350 million in loans to minority- and women-owned small businesses as part of a community lending initiative, it announced Monday.

The banking giant hopes that convenience — and less paperwork — will help it do more business with existing small business customers.

So far, Washington has generally smiled on tech-driven lenders such as Lending Club and OnDeck. But many in the fast-growing industry are now bracing for closer scrutiny.

BankUnited in Miami Lakes, Fla., has hired Hakim Kassam, a former Wells Fargo banker, to run its small business finance department.

A community development venture in the District of Columbia supported by Citigroup, government officials and local financial institutions has partnered with loan marketplace Biz2Credit to facilitate loans to small businesses.

Wells Fargo has launched a tool that helps small business owners create and update business plans.

Small-business lender Funding Circle, which has operations in the United States and the United Kingdom, has received $150 million in new investment.

Prosper Marketplace, the second-largest consumer finance marketplace lender by origination volume, and OnDeck Capital, a direct online lender to small businesses, have agreed to partner on customer referrals.

Idea Bank in Poland aims to win over new small-business customers with an Uber-like service that orders cars equipped with ATMs and cash deposit machines to drive to them.

DNB Financial in Downington, Pa., has formed a business banking services division.

The Securities and Exchange Commission just gave unregistered banks a way to quickly raise capital at a fortuitous time — and marketplace lending platforms a way to reclaim their peer-to-peer roots.