Banking on small business loans

The banking industry has rediscovered small business loans, according to a new survey from Sageworks, a Raleigh, N.C.-based data analysis firm.

To wit: Small business loans nationwide increased by $12 billion in 2014 over 2013. That marked the first annual increase since 2010. “Banks may feel that these companies are in a good position to take on debt,” Sageworks analyst James Noe says in a release.

On volume, banks that made the most loans to small businesses in 2014 are the biggest in the country. That includes Wells Fargo, Bank of America and J.P Morgan Chase. But in percentage of small business loans from a bank's total loan portfolio, the leaders were regional or niche institutions, including some with a major presence on the Gulf Coast. Banks on that list include Columbus, Ga.-based Synovus, Winston-Salem, N.C-based BB&T and Birmingham, Ala.-based Regions Bank.