Connecticut SBA loans outpace national average

10/14/2011

Connecticut banks increased Small Business Administration lending by 40 percent to $224 million during the latest fiscal year, the Fairfield County Business Journal reports. This outpaced the national increase of 35 percent.

Joe Vanella, overseer of Well Fargo's SBA lending in Connecticut, attributes the growth to the SBA's more simplistic qualifying process, which is now solely based on net worth and income.

Under the SBA's guaranteed loan programs, Waterbury-based Webster Bank was the most active lender during this fiscal year. TD Bank lent the more money than any other large state bank, while Fairfield County Bank led community banks with nearly 40 loans totalling $5 million.

The SBA lent a total of $30.5 billion nationwide under its loan programs, including $5.8 billion to more than 16,000 startups.

The New York Times reports that the SBA's nationwide loan total surpassed the 2007 record of $28.5 billion and was a marked increased over last year's $22.6 billion.

"We are back at the weekly SBA. loan levels we saw before the recession hit," said SBA Administrator Karen Mills, as quoted by the news source.