Bailed-out banks haven’t met goals of small-business lending program, report says
Source: Washington Post
Banks that used the Treasury Department’s Small Business Lending Fund to leave the government bailout program have fallen short of extending credit to mom-and-pop operations, according to a watchdog report released Tuesday.
The report from the special inspector general for the Troubled Assets Relief Program said 132 TARP recipients participating in the small-business program used about 80 percent of the $2.7 billion in funding they were awarded to repay the bailout, rather than increase lending.
Twenty-four of those banks that received $501 million in small-business funding have not boosted their lending at all, while the remaining have increased lending by $1.13 for each $1 in funding they received, according to the report. By comparison, banks in the program that did not participate in TARP have lent $3.45 for every $1 they received in funding.
“For some TARP banks, SBLF turned out to be little more than a TARP exit strategy,” said Christy Romero, special inspector general for TARP.
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/bailed-out-banks-havent-met-goals-of-small-business-lending-program-report-says/2013/04/09/5ef4f926-a125-11e2-be47-b44febada3a8_story.html
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