San Francisco — Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) approved more SBA 7(a) loans and dollars for America’s small businesses than any other lender in federal fiscal year 2015 (October 2014 – September 2015), according to recently released U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) data.
During the year, Wells Fargo approved 7,254 SBA 7(a) loans totaling more than $1.9 billion nationwide – an increase of 79 percent in loans and 18 percent in dollars to small businesses compared to the same period a year ago.
In addition to 12 other states, Wells Fargo is the No. 1 SBA 7(a) lender in South Carolina and the No. 1 SBA lender in number of loans in North Carolina and 15 other states, also including South Carolina, as well as Virginia and Georgia in the Southeast. Wells Fargo has a strong presence in North Carolina and the Southeast following its 2011 merger with NC-based Wachovia.
In addition to being the nation’s No.1 SBA lender, Wells Fargo is America’s No.1 lender to small businesses in low-and-moderate-income neighborhoods for both loans under $100,000 and under $1 million lending categories, according to the most recent Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) data (2002-2014 CRA data).
in 2014 Wells Fargo introduced Wells Fargo Works for Small Business– a broad initiative to deliver resources, guidance and services for business owners – and a goal to extend $100 billion in new lending to small businesses by 2018.
Wells Fargo says it serves approximately 3 million small business owners across the United States.
SBA list of top 100 small business lenders: https://www.sba.gov/lenders-top-100
For more information about Wells Fargo Works for Small Business, visit: WellsFargoWorks.com.
