Pennsylvania small business lending sees gains since recession

11/14/2011

According to recent data from Pennsylvania-based consulting firm MultiFunding, small business lending in the state is not far off from pre-recession numbers.

The company studied the state's Philadelphia region and found that total aggregate small business loans have increased by 7.1 percent since 2007 - from $3.48 billion to $3.73 billion.

The biggest gainers between June 30, 2007 and June 30, 2011, turned out to be Valley Green Bank at 321 percent, Harleysville Savings Bank at 276 percent, United Savings Bank of Philadelphia at 206 percent, East River Bank at 171 percent and First Priority Bank at 149 percent.

In addition, one bank that didn't exist in 2007 - Phoenixville-based Customers Bank - saw a 63 percent gain in small business loan volume. Customers was bought by a group headed by former Sovereign Bank CEO Jay Sidhu.

Multifunding also looked at small business lending among Western Pennsylvania banks, and found that the 29 institutions surveyed had a combined $12.7 billion in small business loans on their books as of June 30 - markedly higher than the $6.5 billion they had at the end of second quarter 2007, the Pittsburgh Business Times reports.