Bank tops in SBA loans for third straight year

USAmeriBank had $20.9 million in SBA loans approved for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, placing it atop the list of Tampa's SBA lenders for the third straight year, according to a statement.

Clearwater-based USAmeriBank, with $3.44 billion in assets, was the top community bank and eighth overall in the SBA South Florida district, the statement adds. There are 136 SBA lenders in the district.

During 2015, USAmeriBank closed its 100th loan and has now approved more than $90 million in SBA loans since its program launched four years ago.

The federal government's SBA 7(a) program reached an all-time high in fiscal 2015 with 63,000 loans totaling $23.6 billion, increases of 22% and 23% over 2014, respectively.