The DBO on Dec. 11, 2015, launched an inquiry into the so-called online, or alternative, lending sector. The inquiry’s objective is to determine whether market participants are fully complying with state lending and securities laws. It also aims to assess how the state’s regulatory regime is working, and should work, with respect to the industry.
Resource Category: Microlending
Build Market-Relevant Microlenders
Joyce Klein of Aspen Institute’s FIELD program writes how impact investments can be used to scale microlending. The essay appears in a larger publication – Bottom Line – that addresses how impact investment can improve economic mobility in the U.S.
2014 Small Business Credit Survey
Since 2010, the Federal Reserve has been monitoring small business credit conditions through regional surveys of business owners. In 2014, the Federal Reserve Banks of New York, Atlanta, Cleveland, and Philadelphia collaborated on a common small business credit survey to cover much of the eastern region of the U.S. The survey offers insight about the quality and pace of the sector’s recovery by providing evidence on credit conditions from the perspective of borrowers.
Investing on Economic Mobility
The Bottom Line: Investing for Impact on Economic Mobility in the U.S. draws on the lessons from market-based approaches to identify tools and strategies that can help move the needle on family economic security.
Small Business Access to Credit
The California Reinvestment Coalition’s (CRC) 2010 economic development report documented a dramatic two-thirds plunge in critical bank lending to California small businesses between 2007 and 2009; businesses that are universally seen as the engine of economic recovery. This report unveils the appalling continuing reality that today’s bank lending to small businesses shows only the barest improvement since 2009.
2013 Survey of Small Businesses
The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland sponsored an online survey of small
businesses, which was conducted from July 1 through August 15, 2013. The survey
included questions about business conditions, financing, and workforce needs.
How Much Does Credit Matter?
Cesare Fracassi and Shimon Kogan, UT Austin; Mark Garmaise, UCLA Anderson; Gabriel Natividad, NYU Stern
A team of researchers digs into five years worth of lending data from Accion Texas and reports that startup small businesses that receive a microloan are dramatically more likely to survive, enjoy higher revenues and create more jobs.
The Financial Crisis and Small Business
How did the financial crisis that began in 2008 affect credit markets in the U.S.? Anecdotal evidence suggested that small businesses, which largely rely upon banks for credit, were especially hard hit. In this study, the SBA analyzes data on small-business lending collected by U.S. banking regulators to provide new evidence on how bank credit, in general, and bank credit to small businesses, in particular, were affected by the financial crisis.
SBA Veterans Assistance Programs
Robert Jay Dilger and Sean Lowry of the Congressional Research Service examine the current state of SBA veteran loan programs, and consider whether, as some members of Congress have suggested, combining the program with other services would increase government efficiency.
The State of Business Development
FIELD has released their findings from last year’s microenterprise Census, and so we take a look back at their 2012 report discussing business development services in the sector.