Biz2Credit's October Small Business Lending IndexsuperscriptstartTMsuperscruptend Shows Highest Spike in Big Bank Lending since the Great Recession
Big Bank and Institutional Lender Loan Approval Rates Continue to Thrive
The monthly analysis of 1,000 loan applications from ahrefstartBiz2Credit.comahrefend. revealed continued growth for institutional lenders and big banks, but steady decline for small banks and credit unions.
Big Banks
Big banks ($10 billion+ in assets) saw a surprising spike in their approval numbers -- the highest approval rates since after the end of the Great Recession. October showed 22.8% of small business loan approvals, up from 22.5% in September.
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"As interest rates start going up, we expect further increase in the Big Banks appetite for small business loans. Big Banks are also warming up to buy more loans from the marketplace lenders".

Rohit Arora, Biz2Credit CEO
Small Banks
Lending approval rates at small banks stayed flat at 49% in October, the same as in September.
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"Small Banks have been slow to adapt to new ways of lending in the small business space, especially incorporating online platforms, and thus their approvals have started to slide down." .

Rohit Arora, Biz2Credit CEO
Institutional lenders
Institutional Lenders continued its month-over-month growth, reaching 62.2% , up from 62% in September.
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"We are seeing an increasing demand from institutional investors who want to buy dollar backed assets that have a decent yield as well as low regulatory risks. Right now, small business loans fit both the criteria and thus more institutional investors are buying a greater number of loans at lower yield and longer terms. This also reflects on the growing maturity of marketplace lending, which is becoming more mainstream now as an asset class" .

Rohit Arora, Biz2Credit CEO
Alternative lenders
Alternative lenders dropped slightly in October to 60.8% down from 60.9% in September.
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"Alternative lenders approval rates have gone down as they have not been willing to lower their APR pricing thus leading to higher quality customers turning down their offers and borrowing more money from Institutional lenders through marketplace platforms. " .

Rohit Arora, Biz2Credit CEO
Credit unions
Credit unions approved 42.5% of loan applications in October, down two-tenths of a percent compared to September.
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"Credit Union approvals are at their lowest from the time of starting this Lending Index and the main reason is lack of clarity on the cap which limits credit unions to lend only upto 12.5% of their asset base to small businsses and the pending legistation which will allow the credit unions to lend up to 27.5% of their asset base as well as lack of investments in the digital space.".

Rohit Arora, Biz2Credit CEO
View Past Months
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December 2020 |
Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index™ Reports Loan Approval Rates at Banks Declined in December 2020, Are Down More Than 50 Percent from One Year Ago |
Approval percentages for all categories of lenders dropped more than 50% from December 2019 |
View Report |
November 2020 |
Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index™ Reports Loan Approval Rates at Banks Declined in November 2020, Are Down More Than 50 Percent from One Year Ago |
Approval percentages are down 50% or more for all categories of small business lenders as the pandemic surges |
View Report |
October 2020 |
Small Business Loan Approval Rates at Banks Declined in October 2020: Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index™ |
Small Businesses Capital Is Hard to Secure |
View Report |
September 2020 |
Small Business Loan Approval Rates at Banks Fell Again in September 2020: Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index™ |
Small Businesses in Limbo Awaiting PPP Loan Forgiveness |
View Report |
About Biz2Credit Small Business Lending IndexTM
The Biz2Credit Small Business Lending IndexTM is an analysis of 1,000 monthly loan applications on the Biz2Credit website. The Index reports the loan approval rates of small business financing requests at Big Banks ($10 billion+ in assets), local and regional banks and non-bank lenders (credit unions, Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI), micro lenders, and others).
Unlike other surveys, the results are based on primary data submitted by more than 1,000 entrepreneurs who applied for funding on Biz2Credit's online lending platform, which connects small business borrowers with sources of capital.
Results of the Biz2Credit Small Business Lending IndexTM have been reported by The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Entrepreneur.com, Bloomberg Radio's "The Hays Advantage", SBA Radio, NY Daily News, Crain's NY Business, Michigan Banker, and other media.