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Tuesday, Mar 19, 2024
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Seacoast Commerce Reports 43% Increase in Loans to Small Business

Some bankers cynically called the program “Son of TARP,” but to many of the community banks that accepted capital from the U.S. Treasury through its Small Business Lending Program, it’s been quite a help.

“It’s been an advantage for us to continue our growth in lending to small businesses,” said Rick Sanborn, chief executive at Seacoast Commerce Bank, one of a handful of local lenders that got capital through the SBLF.

Seacoast Commerce obtained $4 million through the fund last year after it repaid about $2 million it obtained from the same agency through the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The capital came with a sliding scale of interest charged according to how much a bank lent over a baseline amount. The more funds it lent, the less interest was charged.

In Seacoast Commerce’s case, the bank did 87 percent more small business loans over the baseline year of 2011. If it increased small business lending by at least 10 percent, it qualified for the lowest rate of 1 percent.

Seacoast Commerce’s SBA gross loans increased 43 percent this past fiscal year over the prior year to $217 million, the bank reported. The loans went to smaller retail businesses, restaurants, wholesalers, manufacturers and professional services firms.

Nationally, a Treasury report stated that the SBLF program increased small business lending by $10.4 billion over the baseline year, representing about 46,800 loans as of June 30.

Other local banks that obtained SBLF funds include Silvergate Bank; Security Business Bank, which was acquired by AmericanWest Bank; and Pacific Trust Bank, now called Bank of California and based in Irvine. Each showed increased lending over the baseline year.

In all, 332 institutions, including community development loan corporations, participated in the SBLF. As of Sept. 17 institutions had repaid the money and exited the program.

The program was meant to be a short term impetus to lending. Starting in 2016, participants will be charged 9 percent on the funds.

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NewLeaf enters market: Another wholesale mortgage lender entered the San Diego market recently. Called NewLeaf Wholesale, the company is owned by Calabasas-based Skyline Financial Corp.

NewLeaf is a direct-to-agency lender serving mortgage brokers and bankers in the Western U.S. The company said it is launching its first wholesale regional operating center in San Diego that will be headed by Marti Tromley. She was formerly chief lending officer at Home Savings of America and a regional director of wholesale lending at Washington Mutual Bank.

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Pacific Premier Bank profits up: Pacific Premier Bancorp, which acquired San Diego Trust Bank and its three branches in June, said its net income in the third quarter increased to $3 million from the net loss of $249,000 it sustained in the second quarter. That quarterly loss was mainly caused by the $5 million in expenses associated with the San Diego Trust acquisition. CEO Steven Gardner said that with the integration of San Diego Trust and another bank, PPB Pacific Premier is looking at other strategic opportunities for further expansion.

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LoanLove.com launches: You can never get too much information about the climate for mortgage lending apparently, given the proliferation of websites devoted to the activity. A San Diego site called LoanLove.com said it hopes to provide insights into the mortgage industry “in a fun and entertaining way” and “to empower both first-time and experienced homeowners with valuable resources.”

Among those resources is a live rate quote tool that can help borrowers find the best rates available.

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Small Change: San Diego lawyer Mark Ankcorn of Casey Gerry Schenk Francavilla Blatt & Penfield LLP spearheaded a $32 million class action settlement with Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) involving the practice known as robo-calling of consumers, Ankcorn reports. He said this is the largest cash payout made under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. That law, enacted in 1991, is designed to protect consumers from unwanted phone calls. Ankcorn said the bank violated the law by making “hundreds of millions of illegal calls each year,” primarily to borrowers who fell behind on their mortgage payments, using a computerized calling system. … U.S. Bank (NYSE: USB) participated in the annual National Protect Your Identity Week by providing information to its customers about identity theft protection. … Bank failures for 2013 stood at 22 as of last week. As of the same time last year, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. closed 46 banks, according to SNL Financial.

Send news about locally based financial institutions to Mike Allen via email at mallen@sdbj.com. He can be reached at 858-277-6359.

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