US Secretary Tim Geithner recently got an earful of ideas from small business owners and bankers about how to ease the credit crunch at the Small Business Financing Forum on November 18 at the Treasury Department.
Highlights from Bizjournals.com:
According to a promise that President Obama made a month ago announcing two initiatives to boost lending to small business, the meeting was designed to be a launch point for the two initiaves that have not been launched yet – but will fall under the TARP program and will provide low-cost capital to community banks which will use for small-business loans.
Steve Steinour, chairman and CEO of Huntington National Bank in Columbus, Ohio said the forum provided a needed focus on easing the credit crunch for small business.
“There’s got to be more financing available to the small-business community as a whole to meaningfully drive the economy and growth in employment. Underwriting standards need to be adjusted to recognize the severity of the recession. Companies that are now breaking even or doing better shouldn’t be disqualified for loans just because they posted a loass in the past year.”
For more on the forum, you can also visit www.sba.gov/smallbusiness
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Banks that were given Tarp Funds should be required to lend to small businesses.
Agreed!
I wonder what (if anything) will come out of these meetings with the Treasury – and what kinds of requirements will be made of banks go got TARP money.