through its commercial department in Englewood, New Jersey. “Lenders in general are not in tune to the special needs of minority small businesses.” Braun says the findings should implore SBA officials to re-examine their lending guidelines and how statistical information is generated.
He adds that there is much room for improvement, even for the best bank performers in the study. “We would like to see 60% of all SBA loans go to minorities — 20% to African Americans, 20% to Asian Americans, and 20% to Latinos,” he says. In 2004, African American-owned firms received just 3% of all SBA loan dollars, and Latino-owned firms just 7%.