The U.S. Department of the Treasury said an additional 61 community banks recently received a total of $608 million from the Small Business Lending Fund.
With the latest distribution, 191 banks have now received more than $2.4 billion in SBLF funding, according to the Treasury. The agency said additional SBLF funding announcements will be made in the weeks ahead.
The SBLF is one part of the President Obama’s initiatives to help small businesses access capital. The State Small Business Credit Initiative, which is a provision of the Small Business Jobs Act, allocates $1.5 billion to new and existing state programs that will leverage private financing to spur $15 billion in new lending to small businesses and small manufacturers.
Community banks with less than $10 billion in assets are eligible for SBLF funds. The dividend rate a community bank pays on SBLF funding is reduced as that bank increases its lending to small businesses, according to the Treasury.
