Bank of the West makes lending strides

11/28/2011

San Francisco, California-based Bank of the West recently announced its plans to expand its Small & Medium Enterprise (SME) Banking group after a successful year in small business lending.

The financial institution showed impressive Small Business Association lending tendencies during the 2011 fiscal year. Its SBA rank for 7(a) loans improved from 94th last year to 37th this year, while the bank - already impressive in its sixth-place nationwide rank in 2010 - moved up one notch to fifth in 2011.

"For the first time in several years (small business owners are) beginning to think seriously about positioning themselves for expansion," said Michelle Di Gangi, executive vice president of SME Banking. "In fact, many of our small business clients are looking to the future and have created jobs by investing in their businesses this year with SBA financing."

Through SBA lending, Bank of the West created more than 1,000 jobs according to SBA statistics, and expects to add an additional 50 employees to its small business banking team in 2012.

Bank of the West is also looking out for the safety of its consumers, as it recently posted a link on its Facebook page for one of its partners, virus fighting software McAfee, citing the increase in online criminal activity during Cyber Monday.