Last week, JP Morgan Chase announced the company would loan $12 billion to small businesses this year, a 20 percent increase from 2010. They also stated their first quarter business lending is up 64 percent from a year ago.
Michael Cleary, CEO of Business Banking in Retail Financial Services for Chase, gave this statement with the announcement: “Small business owners are not only our neighbors but also the entrepreneurs that hire half of the employees in the United States. It’s critical that we support small businesses as they continue to fuel the economic recovery across the country.”
The nation’s other two biggest banks, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, have not given an official commitment to increasing their small business lending, but their first quarter stats are showing that they are also increasing their lending to small businesses. Far West Capital is proud to say we’ve been providing working capital to small and medium-sized businesses before, during and even after the recession and dozens of businesses have been able to survive and even thrive during the recession.
At the International Factoring Association Annual Conference a few weeks ago, we spoke with many of our peers in the industry and everyone seemed to be doing very well and have a lot of opportunities on the horizon. So, as we are watching our economy improve and return to pre-recession status, we are also seeing more small businesses grow and more entrepreneurs take healthy risks. It’s becoming a stronger year for small businesses to grow, and we’re happy to be here to provide small and medium-sized businesses the opportunity (through working capital!) to do it.