Feds hand bank $18 million to boost business

August 26, 2011

Whidbey News-Times – A regional bank with branches on Whidbey Island will receive $18 million in federal funding to boost small business lending.

According to a news release from U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell’s office, Lynden-based People’s Bancorp will receive the money from the Small Business Lending Fund. Part of the Small Business Job Act passed by Congress last September, the fund aims to jump-start the economy with increased lending.

“Small businesses are the engine of our economy and stand ready to drive us out of this recession,” Cantwell said in the news release. “The key ingredient to getting our small businesses investing, growing and hiring again is increased access to capital.”

According to the news release, small businesses employ about half of America’s workforce and account for about 60 percent of gross job creation. Small business owners faced “disproportionate challenges in the aftermath of the recession and credit crisis” with qualified lending being one of their biggest hurdles.

Cantwell, a member of the Senate Small Business and Finance committees, helped to create the lending fund in hopes that it would encourage small business growth.

The fund works by allowing community banks with assets of $10 billion and under to apply for financing from the Department of the Treasury at attractive rates. It’s been built as a reward-based system.

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