Biz2Credit's September Small Business Lending IndexsuperscriptstartTMsuperscruptend Shows Institutional Lenders Hit Record High

Big Bank Loan Approvals Increased While Small Bank and Credit Union Approvals Declined

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

Big banks ($10 billion+ in assets) increased slightly, approving 22.5% of small business loan requests in September, up from 22.3% in July. In the past six months, big banks have vacillated up and down by a few tenths of a percentage points. This fluctuation reveals that banks are attempting to loan more since the recession, but have not fleshed out their digital strategies to improve the customer experience as well as reduce the time to funding.

Aug 2018
26.5%
Sep 2018
26.7%

Monthly Comparison

Aug 2018
26.5%
Sep 2018
26.7%

Yearly Comparison

Small Banks

Small Banks

Lending approval rates at small banks continued to drop to 49% , down from to 49.1% in August.

Jul 2018
49.7%
Aug 2018
49.8%

Monthly Comparison

Aug 2017
49%
Aug 2018
49.8%

Yearly Comparison

" Small banks and credit unions are seeing continuous decline as they are losing quality customers. The reason for this decline is their former customers desire faster approvals, a better online experience and bigger loan amounts, which small banks and credit unions are failing to provide at scale".

Rohit Arora

Rohit Arora, Biz2Credit CEO

Institutional lenders

Institutional lenders

Institutional Lenders continued its month-over-month growth, reaching 62% , up from 61.8% in August. September marks the 12th month of loan consistent loan approval growth in this category.

Jul 2018
64.8%
Aug 2018
64.9%

Monthly Comparison

Jul 2018
63.9%
Aug 2018
64.9%

Yearly Comparison

"The institutional lenders and big banks have hit their highest approval rates since the Small Business Lending Index launched in January 2014. Big banks are starting to get more aggressive in the marketplace while the flavor of the month is more capital coming from institutional lenders".

Rohit Arora

Rohit Arora, Biz2Credit CEO

Alternative lenders

Alternative lenders

Alternative lenders dropped slightly in September to 60.9% down from 61% in August. However, alternative lenders are still in a dominant position within the financial industry, having only 1.1% lower lending approval rates than institutional lenders.

Jul 2018
56.5%
Aug 2018
56.6%

Monthly Comparison

Aug 2017
57.1%
Aug 2018
56.6%

Yearly Comparison

"Biz2Credit reported that the average working capital funded on its platform has increased by 20% over the last 6 months, an indication that larger small businesses are starting to borrow via online lenders".

Rohit Arora

Rohit Arora, Biz2Credit CEO

Credit unions

Credit unions

Credit unions approved 42.7% of loan applications in September, down one-tenth of a percent compared to August.

Jul 2018
40.3%
Aug 2018
40.2%

Monthly Comparison

Aug 2017
40.3%
Aug 2018
40.2%

Yearly Comparison

View Past Months

Access Archives

October 2023

Small Business Loan Approvals Dropped at Big Banks, Rose at Small Banks and Alternative Lenders in October 2023: Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index™

Loan approval rates at institutional investors and alternative lenders increase for 10th consecutive month, while credit union approval rate returns to all-time Index low.

View Report
September 2023

Small Business Loan Approvals Slid at Big Banks, Rose at Other Lenders in September: Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index™

Loan approval percentages rose at regional and community banks and non-bank lenders.

View Report
August 2023

Business Loan Approvals at Big Banks and Credit Unions Continued to Slide in August: Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index™

Big bank lending to small businesses has stalled for over a year, while credit unions return to an all-time low. Loan approval percentages rose at regional and community banks and non-bank lenders.

View Report
July 2023

Business Loan Approvals at Big Banks Continue to Drop, While Other Lenders Increased in July: Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index™

Big bank approvals have declined steadily over the past 12 months. Approval percentages rose at small banks, institutional investors, and alternative lenders in July 2023.

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.

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