Huntington Bank says its focus on lending to small growing businesses a few years ago has been paying off. It is now one of leading lenders to small businesses in the country. It made 184 loans totaling $24.2 million in Michigan and 992 loans totaling $141 million nationwide last fiscal year.
Craig Street, Huntington's national director for Small Business Administration lending, is pleased with the results. Business has been so brisk, he says, the bank hired Mike Moraw as a West Michigan SBA product specialist.
According to excerpts from the story:
"Small business lending is an area where banks our size have an opportunity to distinguish themselves," Street said. "Mortgage lending is mortgage lending. It's a homogeneous type of business. But when a company makes a commitment to small business … in the SBA program, we have an opportunity to differentiate ourselves from the competition."
Moraw said the bank sees SBA lending as a way to target markets the bank wouldn't otherwise get into and create long-term customers that might need to get into a conventional loan in a couple of years.
Read the complete story here
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.