Getting Started Guide
For Community Banks
06/27/2011
. Welcome to the Getting Started Guide for the Small
Business Lending Fund. This guidebook is an overview
designed specifically for community banks – a term used
here to include banks, thrifts, and bank and thrift holding
companies with assets of less than $10 billion.
Small businesses are a vital part
of the American economy. Their success
is a necessary component of the
economic recovery. Currently, many small
businesses face challenges in accessing
the credit they need.
Enacted into law as part
of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010
This guidebook is divided into four chapters. Chapter One
provides a general overview of Small Business Lending Fund
benefits, eligibility, and terms. Chapter Two provides
information relating to the application process.
Chapter
Three provides more detailed information about how the
Small Business Lending Fund works – specifically, what
qualifies as small business lending, how dividends are
calculated, and how to address applicable reporting
requirements. Chapter Four describes what happens after
an institution receives SBLF funding.
If you have questions at any point, please contact the
information line for the Small Business Lending Fund at
888-832-1147 (Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM-7:00 PM ET).
to increase small business lending,
the Small Business Lending Fund is
designed to provide up to $30 billion in
capital to qualified community banks and
other eligible financial institutions.
The Small Business Lending Fund will help
TABLE OF CONTENTS
AT A GLANCE:
The Small Business Lending Fund
for Community Banks
1
CHAPTER ONE:
Introduction
2
CHAPTER TWO:
How to Apply to the Small Business
Lending Fund
6
create jobs and promote economic growth
in local communities across the nation
while enabling Main Street banks to better
extend credit to their customers by utilizing
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CHAPTER THREE:
How the Small Business
Lending Fund Works
11
CHAPTER FOUR:
After Your Bank Receives Funding
the incentives that the Fund provides.
17
. AT A GLANCE: THE SMALL BUSINESS LENDING FUND FOR COMMUNITY BANKS
Overview
Through the Small Business Lending Fund, the U.S. Department of the Treasury provides Tier-1 capital to
community banks and other eligible institutions. Each institution pays dividends at rates that go down as its small
business lending goes up.
•
Eligibility
Insured depository institutions with assets of less than $10 billion, not controlled by a holding company or an
entity with assets of $10 billion or more (as of the end of the fourth quarter of calendar year 2009)
• Bank and savings and loan holding companies with consolidated assets of less than $10 billion
• Treasury will publish separate terms for mutual institutions, Subchapter S corporations, and community
development loan funds; this guidebook does not apply to those institutions
Institutions currently or recently on the FDIC problem bank list (or similar list) are ineligible.
Senior perpetual noncumulative preferred stock (or equivalents) qualifying as Tier 1 capital
Amount of
Funding
Holding
companies:
•
•
Up to 5% of risk-weighted assets (RWA) if assets are $1 billion or less
Up to 3% of RWA if assets are more than $1 billion but less than $10 billion
•
Depository
institutions:
Up to 5% of RWA if consolidated assets of all depository institution subsidiaries are $1 billion or
less
Up to 3% of RWA if consolidated assets of all depository institution subsidiaries are more than
$1 billion but less than $10 billion
•
Treasury may require matching private capital and limit SBLF funding to 3% of RWA even if assets are $1 billion or less.
Qualified Small Business Lending for purposes of the Small Business Lending Fund is defined as follows:
Qualified
Small
Business
Lending
Qualified Small Business Lending includes all:
1. Commercial and industrial loans
2.
Loans secured by owner-occupied nonfarm,
nonresidential real estate
3. Loans to finance agricultural production and
other loans to farmers
4. Loans secured by farmland
so long as:
• the original principal and commitment amount is
$10 million or less
• the loan is not to a business with more than $50 million
in revenues
and excluding loan portions guaranteed by the U.S.
Government or for which a third party assumes risk.
An institution that receives capital from the Small Business Lending Fund will supplement its Call Report with a
Supplemental Report that identifies Qualified Small Business Lending.
Dividend rates upon funding and for the
following nine calendar quarters, adjusted
quarterly (based on outstanding loans at the
end of the second previous quarter):
Dividend
Rates
Dividend rate for the tenth quarter after
funding through the end of the first four and
one-half years:
Lending Increase
Less than 2.5%
2.5% or more, but less than 5%
5% or more, but less than 7.5%
7.5% or more, but less than 10%
10% or more
If lending has increased at the end of the
eighth quarter after funding
If lending has not increased at the end of
the eighth quarter after funding
Dividend rate after four and one-half years
(if funding has not already been repaid):
•
Entry and
Exit
•
Dividend Rate
5%
4%
3%
2%
1%
Rate set as above for
the tenth quarter
7%
9%
The application deadline for C Corporation banks is May 16, 2011.
Treasury encourages eligible institutions to
submit their application as soon as possible to allow sufficient time for processing.
Provide a small business lending plan, approximately two pages in length, to the institution’s regulator (not
directly to Treasury).
Repay SBLF funding at any time with regulatory approval.
More Info
For general inquiries and questions, please call the Small Business Lending Fund information line at 888-832-1147.
For communications pertaining to a specific institution, please email SBLFInstitutions@treasury.gov, a Treasury email
address.
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. CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
This chapter provides an overview of the Small Business
Lending Fund, which is administered by the U.S.
Department of the Treasury. The chapter is designed to
provide answers to general questions your institution might
have about the Small Business Lending Fund, including:
• What is the Small Business Lending Fund?
• Which institutions does this guidebook address?
• How can the Small Business Lending Fund help my
institution?
• Is my institution eligible to apply to participate in the
Small Business Lending Fund?
The more a bank increases its small business lending, the lower
the rate it will pay for the SBLF funding. Through the Small
Business Lending Fund, community banks and small
businesses can work together to create jobs and promote
local economic growth in neighborhoods across the nation.
Many loans made by community banks will qualify as
small business lending under the Jobs Act. The law defines
small business lending to include loans of up to $10 million
to businesses with up to $50 million in annual revenue.
Those loans include:
• Commercial and industrial loans
• Loans secured by owner-occupied nonfarm,
nonresidential real estate
• Loans to finance agricultural production and other
loans to farmers
• Loans secured by farmland
• How much funding can my institution receive?
• If my institution’s Small Business Lending Fund
application is approved, is it obligated to participate?
• After receiving capital, can my institution exit the Small
Business Lending Fund at any time?
• How is small business lending defined for purposes of
the Small Business Lending Fund?
• How is the Small Business Lending Fund dividend rate
calculated?
• What kind of reporting is required?
• Can my institution continue paying dividends and
repurchasing stock if it receives SBLF funding?
• Can my institution refinance outstanding CPP or CDCI
securities through the Small Business Lending Fund?
• Is the Small Business Lending Fund related to the
Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP)?
What is the Small Business Lending Fund?
Enacted into law as part of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010
(the Jobs Act), the Small Business Lending Fund encourages
lending to small businesses by providing capital to community
banks with under $10 billion in assets.
Which institutions does this guidebook address?
This material applies to community banks and community
development loan funds that have total assets of less than
$10 billion.
For purposes of this guidebook, the terms “community
bank” and “bank” encompass banks, thrifts, and bank and
thrift holding companies with consolidated assets of less
than $10 billion.
This guidebook does not apply to mutual institutions,
Subchapter S Corporations, or community development
loan funds.
How can the Small Business Lending Fund help my
institution?
The Small Business Lending Fund aims to stimulate small
business lending by reducing the dividend rate paid by a
community bank on SBLF funding as the bank increases its
lending.
The cost of capital provided through the Small Business
Lending Fund will start no higher than 5%.
If your
community bank’s small business lending increases by 10%
or more, then the rate will fall to as low as 1%. For
increases in small business lending that are less than 10%, the
rate can fall to between 2% and 4%.
Treasury will make SBLF funding available by purchasing
senior preferred stock or equivalents in institutions that
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2
. apply and are approved for participation in the Fund. SBLF
funding will be Tier-1 capital.
Participation in the Small Business Lending Fund is entirely
voluntary. Banks may repay their SBLF funding at any time
with regulatory approval.
Access to capital through the Small Business Lending Fund
can boost your institution’s lending capacity while helping
to create jobs and promote economic growth in local
communities across the nation.
The Small Business Lending Fund:
• supports Main Street banks and small businesses
Treasury will publish separate terms for mutual institutions,
Subchapter S corporations, and community development
loan funds (CDLFs). Terms for such institutions may vary
from those described in this guidebook.
An institution is not eligible if it is on the FDIC’s problem
bank list (or similar list) or has been removed from that list
in the previous 90 days.
The Small Business Lending Fund also provides an option for
community banks to refinance preferred stock issued to
Treasury through the Capital Purchase Program (CPP) or the
Community Development Capital Initiative (CDCI) under
certain conditions.
However, simultaneous participation in
CPP or CDCI and the Small Business Lending Fund is not
permitted.
• is available only to community banks and community
development loan funds
How much funding can my institution receive?
• enables eligible community banks to access Tier 1
capital at rates as low as 1%
• carries no compensation restrictions and does not
require the issuance of any warrants
• is focused on generating increases in lending to small
businesses
If your institution has total assets of $1 billion or less, it may
apply for SBLF funding that equals up to 5% of its riskweighted assets (as reported in the Call Report immediately
preceding the date of application). If your institution has
assets of more than $1 billion, but less than $10 billion, it
may apply for funding that equals up to 3% of its riskweighted assets.
Is my institution eligible to apply to participate in the
Small Business Lending Fund?
If my institution’s Small Business Lending Fund application
is approved, is it obligated to participate?
Your institution is eligible if it has total assets of less than
$10 billion (as of the end of the fourth quarter of calendar
year 2009) and it meets the other requirements for
participation. If your institution is controlled by a holding
company, the combined assets of the holding company
determine eligibility and your holding company must apply.
For detailed information on eligibility, please see the
section titled “What counts as ‘Qualified Small Business
Lending’” in Chapter Three.
No.
Submitting an application to the Small Business
Lending Fund does not create any obligation on the part of
your institution or Treasury.
In the case of an insured depository institution that is
controlled by a bank holding company, the bank holding
company must apply and at least 90% of the funds must be
immediately downstreamed.
After receiving capital, can my institution exit the Small
Business Lending Fund at any time?
Bank holding companies that are organized as limited
liability companies may participate in the Small Business
Lending Fund. The terms published on the SBLF website,
www.treasury.gov/SBLF, will generally apply.
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Once approved, your institution will have a reasonable
amount of time to decide whether it would like to
participate in the Small Business Lending Fund and enter
into a definitive agreement with Treasury.
Yes. Subject to the approval of your regulator, your
institution can exit the Small Business Lending Fund at any
time simply by repaying the funding provided along with
any accrued dividends.
There is no prepayment penalty.
If your institution wishes to repay its SBLF funding in partial
payments, each partial payment must be at least 25% of the
original funding amount.
3
. How is small business lending defined for purposes of the
Small Business Lending Fund?
The Small Business Lending Fund uses a definition of small
business lending that differs from “loans to small businesses”
and “loans to small farms” as those terms are used in the
quarterly Call Reports that banks submit.
Generally, business loans of up to $10 million to companies
with up to $50 million in annual revenue will be included in
the Fund’s definition of small business lending. For many
community banks, this definition will capture most of the
business loans they make. For detailed information, please
see the section titled “What counts as ‘Qualified Small
Business Lending’” in Chapter Three of this document.
How is the Small Business Lending Fund dividend rate
calculated?
The dividend rate during the first two years will be, at most,
5% per annum. With a 10% increase in small business
lending, the rate will drop to as low as 1%.
Lesser increases
in lending can cause the rate to drop to between 2% and 4%.
The rate in the tenth quarter will continue to apply until the
end of the first four and one-half years after your institution
receives SBLF funding. For detailed information, please see
the section titled “How Qualified Small Business Lending
affects dividend rates on SBLF funding” in Chapter Three of
this document.
Can my institution continue paying dividends and
repurchasing stock if it receives SBLF funding?
What kind of reporting is required?
Under the terms of the SBLF funding, most banks should be
able to continue with their existing dividend and share
repurchase practices. The terms associated with SBLF
funding provide institutions with broad flexibility to
establish dividend and share repurchase practices that
reflect each institution’s individual circumstances, while
helping to ensure that SBLF funding is used to foster
increased small business lending.
If your institution participates in the Small Business Lending
Fund, it will be required to submit the reports and
certifications listed in the following chart:
Can my institution refinance outstanding CPP or CDCI
securities through the Small Business Lending Fund?
If your institution is a participant in CPP or CDCI, it may
apply to refinance its outstanding CPP and CDCI securities
through the Small Business Lending Fund.
To be eligible for refinancing, your institution must be in
material compliance with all the terms, conditions, and
covenants of its CPP or CDCI agreement, be current on its
dividend payments to Treasury, and not previously have
missed more than one dividend payment (although a
payment submitted 60 days or fewer after the due date will
not be considered a missed payment for this purpose).
In
addition, all outstanding CPP and CDCI securities must be
refinanced or repaid in full at the time of the refinancing.
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. Please consult the Summary of Terms for Current CPP and
CDCI Participants for further detail.
If your institution applies for refinancing, its application will
be evaluated by Treasury under the same process used for
other applicants. (Read more about refinancing
requirements and how applications are evaluated in
Chapter Two). Warrants issued in connection with CPP
investments will remain outstanding.
Is the Small Business Lending Fund related to the Troubled
Asset Relief Program (TARP)?
No. The Small Business Lending Fund is not related to
TARP.
Congress authorized the Small Business Lending
Fund as part of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, with
the objective of increasing the availability of credit to small
businesses.
The Small Business Lending Fund draws from a source of
funding separate from TARP, and it is administered by a
separate organization in Treasury.
Participation in the Small Business Lending Fund carries no
executive compensation restrictions and does not require
the issuance of any warrants.
Any institution will not be considered a TARP recipient by
virtue of participating in the Small Business Lending Fund.
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5
. CHAPTER TWO: HOW TO APPLY TO THE
SMALL BUSINESS LENDING FUND
submit a completed application to Treasury at
SBLFApps@treasury.gov.
Submitting an application to the Small Business Lending
Fund is easy. In the following section you will find what you
need to know about how to apply, including:
The application deadline for C Corporation banks is May 16,
2011. Treasury encourages eligible institutions to submit
their application as soon as possible to allow sufficient time
for processing.
How does the application process work?
What should be in the small business lending plan?
May my institution change the amount of capital requested
after it has applied for funding?
May my bank withdraw its application and resubmit a new
application if a more favorable Call Report is available?
How will Treasury evaluate applications?
How much time will my institution have after receiving
preliminary approval from Treasury to decide whether to
participate?
What is the closing process?
What are the requirements for raising separate matching
funds?
What are the requirements for refinancing outstanding CPP
or CDCI securities?
Are there any application fees or other fees associated with
the Small Business Lending Fund?
When will my institution learn whether it has been
approved for SBLF funding?
May my bank apply more than once for SBLF funding or
schedule more than one closing?
For your convenience, the application form is available on
the Small Business Lending Fund website at
www.treasury.gov/SBLF. If you have any questions, please
contact the SBLF information line at 888-832-1147
(Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM-7:00 PM ET).
How does the application process work?
If your institution is eligible and wants to apply to
participate in the Small Business Lending Fund, it must
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In general, applicants may reduce the amount of capital
requested at any time prior to closing, but may not increase
the amount of capital requested once an application has
been submitted.
Applicants approved for funding with
matching capital may only reduce the amount of capital
requested if they raise an equivalent amount of incremental
private investment (i.e., In addition to the amount of
private investment initially specified in Treasury’s approval
notice).
Submitting an application does not obligate your institution
to participate in the Small Business Lending Fund if
approved. Your institution may withdraw its application at
any time prior to entering into to a definitive agreement
with Treasury. Additionally, after your institution has
received SBLF funding, it may exit the Small Business
Lending Fund at any time simply by repaying the funding
provided along with any accrued dividends (with the
approval of its regulator).
Please note that if your institution wants to apply to
participate in the Small Business Lending Fund, in addition
to submitting an application to Treasury, it must submit a
small business lending plan of approximately two pages in
length to its primary federal regulator and to its state
regulator, if applicable.
If your institution is a holding
company, it must also submit the lending plan to the
primary federal regulator (and state regulator, if applicable)
of each of its insured depository institution subsidiaries.
The lending plan should not be sent directly to Treasury.
(Your institution’s federal regulator will forward it to
Treasury.)
What should be in the small business lending plan?
Each lending plan should:
1. Address the needs of small businesses
The lending plan should describe how your institution
intends to use funding from the Small Business Lending
Fund to address the needs of small businesses in the
communities it serves. Your institution should provide
6
.
a description of the basis for its lending goals and how
it intends to achieve these goals.
The lending plan should explain why the projected
increase in small business lending is reasonable in the
context of the size of your institution and the market it
serves. To the extent practicable, the lending plan
should include a description of the types of loans
anticipated and customers served.
2. Specify the projected increase in small business lending
The lending plan should include the increase in
qualified small business lending (as defined in the
Fund’s summary of terms) that your institution expects
to achieve two years after the investment. It is
acceptable to provide a projected range.
While this projection should be based upon your
institution’s estimate of qualified small business
lending, your institution does not need to formally
calculate such lending at the time of application.
Each
bank will be required to calculate such lending only as
part of the closing process, after receiving preliminary
approval for participation in the Fund. Prior to closing,
your institution will be asked to revalidate the
projection provided in this lending plan on the basis of
its formal calculation of qualified small business
lending.
The lending plan is not intended to be an official
business plan in the sense of those submitted to your
institution’s primary federal regulator. As a result,
Treasury does not require the submission of a pro
forma income statement or balance sheet.
3.
Provide for community outreach
The Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 requires banks
participating in the Small Business Lending Fund to
provide outreach and advertising describing the
availability and application process for receiving small
business loans.
Your institution should submit its lending plan to its
regulator(s) at the same time it submits its Small Business
Lending Fund application to Treasury.
Guidance, including instructions for submitting the lending
plan to the appropriate regulators, and a form for an
applicant’s lending plan submission can be found at
http://www.treasury.gov/SBLF. Again, please note that the
lending plan should not be sent directly to Treasury.
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May my institution change the amount of capital
requested after it has applied for funding?
In general, applicants may reduce the amount of capital
requested at any time prior to the closing, but may not
increase the amount of capital requested once an
application has been submitted.
May my bank withdraw its application and resubmit a new
application if a more favorable Call Report is available?
Institutions may only resubmit an application to correct
errors on the original application, at the discretion of
Treasury. Treasury will consult with appropriate federal
and state regulators before approving an application.
How will Treasury evaluate applications?
Treasury will coordinate with the federal bank regulatory
agencies and (as applicable) state regulatory agencies to
review your institution’s application.
Specifically, Treasury
will consult with the federal banking agencies in
determining whether your institution is qualified to receive
capital from the Small Business Lending Fund. If your
institution is a state-chartered bank, Treasury also will
consider the views of your state banking regulator
regarding the financial condition of your bank.
7
. Treasury will notify your institution of its decision as one of
the following three options:
1. Preliminary approval
After reviewing the application, Treasury may determine
that your institution is eligible for and qualified to
participate in the Small Business Lending Fund. If your
institution elects to continue with the process, Treasury
will assign a law firm as its representative to work with
your institution to complete the closing and funding
processes.
2. Preliminary approval contingent on matched funding
As a result of its review of the application, Treasury may
determine that your institution is eligible and should be
considered for participation in the Small Business Lending
Fund, provided it raises separate matching funds from
private, nongovernmental sources.
Such matched funding
will need to be received either prior to or concurrent with
Treasury’s SBLF funding. (Generally, capital raised after
September 27, 2010 may be included). If your institution
would like to continue with the process, Treasury will
assign a law firm as its representative to work with your
institution to complete the closing and funding processes.
3.
Considered withdrawn
Following its review of the application, Treasury may
determine that your institution is not eligible or
otherwise will not qualify for participation in the Small
Business Lending Fund. In such a case, your
institution’s application will be considered withdrawn.
How much time will my institution have after receiving
preliminary approval from Treasury to decide whether to
participate in the Small Business Lending Fund?
What is the closing process?
The closing process for institutions that decide to proceed
after receiving either a “preliminary approval” or a
“preliminary approval contingent on matched funding”
determination includes working with a law firm
representing Treasury to enter into a Securities Purchase
Agreement with Treasury.
As explained in Chapter Three, an institution that
participates in the Small Business Lending Fund is required
to submit an Initial Supplemental Report and regular
Quarterly Supplemental Reports, which will be used for
measuring changes in Qualified Small Business Lending.
The Initial Supplemental Report is due no later than five (5)
business days before closing. If the closing date occurs
after the Call Report is due in a calendar quarter, the first
regular Quarterly Supplemental Report is also due no later
than five (5) business days before closing.
What are the requirements for raising separate matching
funds?
Treasury will only require an institution to raise matching
private investment as a condition for approval if the
institution would not otherwise qualify to receive SBLF
funding absent such capital.
If an institution is required to raise matching funds as a
condition for receiving SBLF funding, the following will
apply:
1.
Treasury will notify the institution of the amount of
private funds it must raise to qualify for SBLF funding at
the time of preliminary approval;
2. The maximum amount of SBLF funding provided by
Treasury will be equal to 3% of the institution’s riskweighted assets;
An institution will have 30 days after the date of Treasury’s
notice of preliminary approval to decide whether it would
like to participate in the Small Business Lending Fund and
schedule a closing with Treasury.
3. The source of the private investment must not be an
institution that has received or applied to receive
capital from the Small Business Lending Fund; and
For institutions that receive preliminary approval
contingent on raising matching capital, Treasury will
normally grant extensions if matching capital cannot be
raised within the thirty (30) day period.
4.
The private investment must be subordinate to the
SBLF capital and carry terms satisfactory to Treasury
(although Treasury may approve a dividend rate for the
private investment that is higher than the SBLF rate).
An institution may notify Treasury at any time prior to
closing that it has decided not to participate in the Small
Business Lending Fund and withdraw its application.
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In determining eligibility for matched funding, Treasury will
consider as matching funds any capital raised after
8
. September 27, 2010, net of subsequent dividends,
repurchases, and redemptions.
through the Small Business Lending Fund, unless you
repurchase them.
Applicants approved for funding with matching capital may
only reduce the amount of capital requested if they raise an
equivalent amount of incremental private investment (i.e.,
in addition to the amount of private investment initially
specified in Treasury’s approval notice).
Institutions applying to refinance CPP or CDCI securities will
not be considered for approval on a “matched funding”
basis (although they are not prohibited from raising capital
if they choose).
What are the requirements for refinancing outstanding
CPP or CDCI securities?
To be considered for refinancing, your institution must
meet all of the eligibility requirements that otherwise apply
to Small Business Lending Fund participants, plus the
following additional requirements:
• The institution must be in material compliance with all
the terms, conditions, and covenants of any CPP or
CDCI agreement and financial instrument;
• The institution must not have missed more than one
dividend payment under CPP or CDCI (where a missed
payment is defined as a payment submitted more than
60 days after the due date); and
• The institution must pay, in immediately available funds,
the amount of any unpaid dividends for the payment
period prior to the SBLF closing date, plus accrued and
unpaid dividends as of the date of refinancing for the
payment period that includes the closing date.
The maximum amount of available SBLF funding for CPP or
CDCI refinancing is the same as it is for regular SBLF participants.
It is based on the size of your institution. If your institution has
up to $1 billion in assets, the maximum will be 5% of its riskweighted assets. If your institution has more than $1 billion
and less than $10 billion in assets, the maximum will be 3%.
If your institution has CPP or CDCI stock with an aggregate
liquidation preference greater than the maximum amount
of permissible SBLF funding, your bank must redeem the
additional CPP or CDCI stock in immediately available funds
on or before the date it receives SBLF funding.
All outstanding CPP and CDCI securities must be refinanced
or repaid in full at the time of the refinancing. In addition,
the SBLF funding must be at least 1% of your institution’s
risk-weighted assets.
Any warrants that your institution has issued to Treasury
under CPP will remain outstanding after CPP refinancing
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Institutions that are refinancing CPP investments must
increase their small business lending to receive an
economic benefit from refinancing.
If at the beginning of
the tenth full calendar quarter after the date on which a
bank receives SBLF funding, the bank’s Qualified Small
Business Lending as reported in the ninth quarter has not
increased relative to its baseline amount, then the bank will
be required to pay, at the beginning of the fifth anniversary
of the CPP investment, a repayment incentive fee equal to
2% per year on the total amount of outstanding SBLF
funding. (If your bank received CPP funding on two
separate funding dates, the 2% annual lending incentive fee
will apply as of the fifth anniversary of the date of the initial
CPP funding, and will be calculated based on the current
outstanding amount of SBLF funding as of that date.) This
fee will extend through the date four and one-half years
following the institution’s receipt of SBLF funding.
Are there any application fees or other fees associated
with the Small Business Lending Fund?
Treasury does not charge any application fees or other fees
or closing costs associated with closing a transaction with
the Small Business Lending Fund. In addition, there are no
fees or penalties for repayment or prepayment of SBLF
funding.
For current CPP banks that refinance into the SBLF program,
there is a 2% annual Lending Incentive Fee that will apply if
the institution does not increase its small business lending.
This fee will extend through the date four and one-half
years following the institution’s receipt of SBLF funding.
This is discussed in further detail in the Summary of Terms
for Current CPP and CDCI Participants.
When will my institution learn whether it has been
approved for SBLF Funding?
Treasury is committed to the prompt and efficient review of
all applications to the Fund with the goal of providing
funding decisions to institutions as quickly as possible.
Working with the appropriate federal and state banking
regulators, Treasury conducts a thorough analysis of each
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.
application. Each application is evaluated independently.
Because institutions vary in their circumstances and
complexity, Treasury cannot provide an indication of
whether or when any specific application may be approved.
Treasury will fund institutions on a rolling basis.
May my bank apply more than once for SBLF funding or
schedule more than one closing?
Institutions may only submit a single application for the
program. Each approved institution will receive all of its
SBLF funding in a single closing and funding. Institutions
whose applications have been withdrawn may not reapply.
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CHAPTER THREE: HOW THE SMALL
BUSINESS LENDING FUND WORKS
following four categories, among others, which form the
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basis of what counts as Qualified Small Business Lending:
The basic premise of the Small Business Lending Fund is
simple: The dividend rate paid by a community bank on SBLF
capital is reduced as the bank increases its lending to small
businesses to get the U.S economy growing. To help
community banks understand how the Small Business Lending
Fund works, this chapter explains key definitions and
calculations. Specifically, it provides the following information:
• Where to find information about Small Business
Lending Fund investment terms;
• What counts as “Qualified Small Business Lending”;
• How Qualified Small Business Lending affects dividend
rates on SBLF funding; and
• How to calculate changes in Qualified Small Business
Lending and resulting dividend rate.
Where to find information about Small Business Lending
Fund investment terms
The complete Small Business Lending Fund summary of
terms can be found on the Small Business Lending Fund
website at www.treasury.gov/SBLF.
Treasury is currently developing terms and guidance for
mutual institutions, Subchapter S corporations, and
community development loan funds. Terms for such
institutions may vary from those described in this guide.
In determining whether a loan’s original principal and
commitment amount is $10 million or less, a group of loans
to the same borrower or any of its affiliates will be treated
as a single loan.
The total amount of the loans in the group
may not exceed $10 million for the loans to qualify.
What counts as “Qualified Small Business Lending?”
In determining whether a loan goes to a business with more
than $50 million in revenues, the recipient’s revenues are
measured for the most recent fiscal year that had ended
when the loan originated (using the recipient’s ultimate
parent company, where applicable).
Your institution can lower the cost of capital it obtains
through the Small Business Lending Fund by increasing the
amount of its “Qualified Small Business Lending.”
Accordingly, it is important to understand what counts as
Qualified Small Business Lending. For purposes of the Small
Business Lending Fund, small business lending includes more
loans than the Call Report categories of “loans to small
businesses” and “loans to small farms.” In Call Reports,
institutions report overall amounts of business loans in the
If any part of a loan is guaranteed by a U.S. government agency
or enterprise, the guaranteed portion is subtracted from the
loan amounts.
If a third party has assumed an economic
interest in any part of a loan, that portion is subtracted.
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These categories of loans are reported in the Consolidated Reports of
Condition and Income submitted by banks. For eligible institutions that
are savings and loan associations, the Thrift Financial Report (which
uses different labels for categories of loans reported) should be used in
cases where this document references a Call Report.
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. If your institution is a holding company, its Qualified Small
Business Lending consists of the combined Qualified Small
Business Lending of all of its insured depository institution
subsidiaries.
How Qualified Small Business Lending affects dividend
rates on SBLF funding
If your institution’s application to the Small Business Lending
Fund is approved and it elects to participate, Treasury will
provide funds to your institution, receiving shares of preferred
stock (or equivalents) in return. Your institution will pay
dividends on the funding at rates that will go down if the
amount of its Qualified Small Business Lending goes up.
Summary of Loan Categories Included in
Qualified Small Business Lending
Loans that meet the applicable conditions, including the
$10 million loan amount limit and the $50 million revenue
limit, qualify as small business lending if they are within any of
the four categories of loans previously described. Although
your institution’s Call Report instructions provide full
descriptions, the categories may be briefly summarized as
follows:
Commercial and industrial loans
Commercial and industrial loans, as reported on Call Reports,
include loans for commercial and industrial purposes to sole
proprietorships, partnerships, corporations, and other
business enterprises. Potential recipients include
manufacturing companies, construction companies,
transportation and communication companies, wholesale and
retail trade enterprises, service enterprises, and various other
types of businesses.
The category also includes loans to
individuals for commercial, industrial, and professional
purposes, but not for investment or personal expenditure
purposes. The loans may be secured or unsecured, but the
category excludes loans secured by real estate.
Loans secured by owner-occupied nonfarm,
nonresidential real estate
The dividend rate during the first two years will be, at most,
5% per annum. With a 10% increase in small business
lending, the rate will drop to only 1%.
Lesser increases in
lending can cause the rate to drop to between 2% and 4%.
The rate in the tenth quarter after the closing date will
continue to apply until the end of the four-and-one-halfyear period after your institution receives SBLF funding. In
most cases, this rate will not exceed 5%. If your
institution’s small business lending does not increase at all
by the tenth quarter, however, the rate will rise to 7%.
Four and one-half years following Treasury’s initial funding,
if the capital has not been repaid, the rate will increase to
9%.
Your institution may repay the capital at any time with
the approval of its regulator.
The amount of your institution’s increase in small business
lending is measured by the stock of loans outstanding each
quarter versus the amount that was outstanding in the
four quarters ending June 30, 2010.
The dividend rate your institution pays is determined by its
aggregate increase in small business lending. The Small
Business Lending Fund does not distinguish between
refinanced loans and new loans – or require any “loan-byloan” review.
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Loans secured by real estate, as reported on Call Reports,
include a subcategory for loans secured by owner-occupied
nonfarm, nonresidential properties. A loan secured by real
estate is one for which a lien on the real estate was central to
the extension of the credit.
The subcategory of loans secured
by owner-occupied nonfarm, nonresidential properties
consists of nonfarm, nonresidential real estate loans for which
the primary source of repayment is the cash flow from the
ongoing operations of the owner of the property (or its affiliate).
Loans to finance agricultural production and other
loans to farmers
Loans to finance agricultural production and other loans to
farmers, as reported on Call Reports, include a variety of
agricultural loans. Potential recipients include farm and ranch
owners, operators (including tenants), and non-farmers. The
category includes loans that finance crops and livestock,
fisheries and forestries, and equipment used in agricultural
activities.
The loans may be secured or unsecured, but the
category excludes loans secured by real estate.
Loans secured by farmland
Loans secured by real estate, as reported on Call Reports,
include a subcategory for loans secured by farmland. As
noted above, a loan secured by real estate is one for which a
lien on the real estate was central to the extension of the
credit. The subcategory of loans secured by farmland includes
land used for crops or livestock, including grazing or pasture
land, and loans secured by improvements on the land.
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To measure this increase, your bank will establish its
“baseline” level of small business lending at the time it
receives SBLF funding (equal to the average amount
outstanding in the four quarters ending June 30, 2010). In
each quarter after your bank receives SBLF funding, its
amount of small business loans outstanding (with certain
adjustments) will be compared to this baseline number.
That comparison, in turn, determines the dividend rate your
institution will pay on its SBLF funding.
Your bank will calculate these measures – both the baseline
and its quarterly lending – using Supplemental Reports that
are submitted to Treasury. There are two types of
Supplemental Reports:
• The Initial Supplemental Report, due no later than five
(5) business days before closing, which calculates your
institution’s baseline, as well as its initial dividend rate.
• The Quarterly Supplemental Report, due in the
calendar quarter in which closing occurs and in each of
the next nine quarters, which calculates your
institution’s dividend rate for the quarter following
submission of the report (and, in the case of the tenth
Quarterly Supplemental Report, the rate that continues
until four and one-half years after closing).
1. Baseline
The baseline for measuring changes in an institution’s
Qualified Small Business Lending will be the quarterly
average of Qualified Small Business Lending for the four
quarters ending June 30, 2010.
The initial baseline will be established at the time your
institution receives SBLF funding.
This initial baseline
amount will be adjusted to take into account any gains
in Qualified Small Business Lending during the baseline
quarters resulting from mergers, acquisitions, and loan
purchases.
2. Dividend rate through the first nine quarters
During the quarter in which it receives SBLF funding,
your institution’s initial dividend rate will be 5% or less.
Whether it is less will depend on whether your
institution has achieved a sufficient increase (from its
baseline) in Qualified Small Business Lending as
reflected in the Initial Supplemental Report which, in
turn, is derived from the Call Report that is published in
the calendar quarter before your institution receives
funding. Because Call Reports pertain to the quarter
before the one in which they are published, the SBLF
Supplemental Report derived from the Call Report
published in the quarter preceding the receipt of SBLF
capital will reflect the amount of loans outstanding at
the end of the second preceding quarter.
For example, if the closing date occurs in the second
quarter of 2011, the initial dividend rate will depend on
the amount of Qualified Small Business Lending
reflected in the SBLF Supplemental Report that was
derived from the Call Report published in the first
quarter of 2011, which will be the amount of qualified
loans that were outstanding at the end of the fourth
quarter of 2010.
For the first nine calendar quarters after the closing
date, the dividend rate for each quarter will be similarly
determined.
The amount of Qualified Small Business
Lending derived from the Call Report published in the
preceding quarter will be compared to the baseline.
This amount will reflect qualified loans that were
outstanding at the end of the second preceding quarter.
In the example above, the dividend rate for the third
quarter of 2011 will depend on the amount of Qualified
Small Business Lending reflected in the Supplemental
Report derived from the Call Report published in the
second quarter of 2011. This amount will reflect
qualified loans at the end of the first quarter of 2011.
3. Dividend rate after the first nine quarters
The baseline will remain constant each quarter after
receiving SBLF funding.
However, if your institution’s
Qualified Small Business Lending subsequently increases
in a given quarter as a result of mergers, acquisitions, or
loan purchases, its baseline will be increased in that
quarter (and in subsequent quarters) to reflect that
increase. These adjustments will be made cumulatively
from the quarter ending September 30, 2010. This is to
help ensure that rate reductions for SBLF funding
correspond to additional lending to small businesses,
rather than acquisitions of existing loans.
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The dividend rate that applies in the tenth calendar
quarter after the closing date will remain in effect until
four and one-half years after the closing date.
If the amount of Qualified Small Business Lending as of
the end of the eighth quarter after the closing date, as
reflected in the Quarterly Supplemental Report
submitted in the ninth quarter, reflects no increase at all
over the baseline (that is, if such lending is the same as
or less than the baseline), then the dividend rate will
become 7% in the tenth quarter, continuing until the
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end of the four-and-one-half-year period after the
closing date.
Following the four-and-one-half-year period, the rate
will increase to 9% if the funding has not already been
repaid.
For example, if the closing date occurs on May 1, 2011,
the dividend rate that applies in the fourth quarter of
2013 – which is the tenth quarter after the investment
date – will remain in effect until November 1, 2015,
which is four and one-half years after the closing date.
If the institution’s Qualified Small Business Lending in
the second quarter of 2013 is the same as or less than
the baseline, however, the dividend rate will be 7% in
the fourth quarter of 2013. In either case, on
November 1, 2015, the dividend rate will increase to
9% if the institution has not redeemed its SBLF funding
by then.
The following table of adjustments shows the dividend
rates that apply with specified increases from the baseline.
If your institution uses SBLF funding to refinance a CPP
investment, an added fee will apply if the bank’s small
business lending has not increased relative to its
baseline amount in the eighth quarter after SBLF funding
is received, as reflected in the Supplemental Report
submitted in the ninth quarter after the SBLF funding is
received. In such a case, your bank will be required to
pay a quarterly lending incentive fee equal to 2% per
annum on the total amount of outstanding SBLF
funding, starting at the beginning of the first quarter
after the fifth anniversary of the CPP investment and
ending four and one-half years following the date your
institution refinances into SBLF.
4. Dividend rates and lending amounts
If the amount of Qualified Small Business Lending by
your institution has increased from the baseline by a
sufficient percentage to result in a lower dividend rate,
the lower rate will apply to a dollar amount of SBLF
capital only up to the amount by which Qualified Small
Business Lending has increased.
For example, assume that the amount of SBLF funding
received is $5 million, qualified lending has increased by
$4 million in the two years after receiving the capital,
and this amount represents a 10% increase over the
baseline, resulting in a 1% dividend rate.
On these assumptions, the 1% rate applies to $4 million
of the SBLF funding and a 5% rate applies to the
remaining $1 million.
If Qualified Small Business Lending
had increased by at least $5 million, which is the amount
of the SBLF funding received, the 1% rate would have
applied to the entire amount.
How to calculate changes in Qualified Small Business
Lending and resulting dividend rate
Your bank will calculate changes in Qualified Small Business
Lending – both baseline and quarterly lending – using
Supplemental Reports that are submitted to Treasury. The
Supplemental Reports are based in part on information
your institution already provides in its quarterly Call Report.
This calculation is important, because your institution’s
increase in Qualified Small Business Lending can lower the
dividend rate your institution pays.
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. greater than $50 million), and the portion of any loans
guaranteed by the U.S. government or for which the risk is
assumed by a third party, are subtracted. The resulting
amount is the Adjusted Small Business Lending Baseline.
The reports then determine the quarter-end Qualified Small
Business Lending by taking the balances reported on your
institution’s Call Report and adding back your institution’s
cumulative net charge-offs with respect to such loans since
July 1, 2010. This is done so as not to penalize banks for
appropriately charging off loans.
The resulting sum
constitutes your Quarter-End Adjusted Qualified Small
Business Lending.
The reports provide the calculation your institution will use
to determine the dividend rate it will pay for its SBLF
funding by comparing its Adjusted Quarter-End Qualified
Small Business Lending to its Adjusetd Small Business
Lending Baseline.
There are two types of Supplemental Reports, Initial and
Quarterly. These reports start with information already
presented in your institution’s Call Report or Thrift Financial
Reports (TFRs) or, for thrift holding companies, in your
subsidiaries’ TFRs. These reports take the outstanding
amount of lending reflected in the following four categories:
Because your institution’s baseline is based on the four
quarters ending June 30, 2010, your bank may already
qualify for a lower dividend rate based on the growth of
qualified lending between July 1, 2010, and the second
calendar quarter preceding the SBLF closing date.
See the
following chart for such an example, where the SBLF
funding is received in the second quarter of 2011:
• Commercial and industrial loans;
• Owner-occupied nonfarm, nonresidential real estate
loans;
• Loans to finance agricultural production and other
loans to farmers; and
• Loans secured by farmland.
The baseline is the average amount of Qualified Small
Business Lending your institution had outstanding for the
four quarters ending June 30, 2010 for each of these four
types of loans, as reflected on your institution’s Call Reports
(or TFRs). However, this baseline will be adjusted from the
onset and each subsequent quarter by adding any increases
in Qualified Small Business Lending obtained through
mergers and acquisitions or loan purchases. The purpose of
adjusting the baseline in this way is so that no institution is
unduly rewarded for simply purchasing or acquiring
qualified loans.
From these amounts, large loans (defined as any loan or
group of loans greater than $10 million), loans to large
businesses (defined as businesses with annual revenues
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If your initial Qualified Small Business Lending exceeds the
baseline, as adjusted, by a sufficient percentage, your
institution will qualify for a lower dividend rate.
The Initial Supplemental Report, due no later than five
business days before the closing date, will be used to
calculate the dividend rate that will apply initially after
closing.
The Quarterly Supplemental Reports will be used to
determine the new dividend rate for the following quarter.
The Quarterly Supplemental Report will be due each
quarter when the Call Report is due, no more than
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30 calendar days after the quarter to which it pertains. If
the closing date occurs after the Call Report for the quarter
is due, the institution will be required to submit its first
Quarterly Supplemental Report no later than five days
before the closing date.
Although Quarterly Supplemental Reports will be submitted
at the same time Call Reports are submitted, the process for
filing Supplemental Reports differs from the Call Report
processes. Supplemental Reports are not filed with Call
Reports. Rather, your institution will be required to submit
its completed Supplemental Reports by email to Treasury.
The applicable email addresses are provided in the
instructions for the Supplemental Reports.
As with the Call Report, different types of institutions use
slightly different forms.
There are four different versions of
each Supplemental Report, each of which tries to leverage
the content and format of whichever form of Call Report or
TFR an institution uses. If your institution is a state- or
nationally-chartered bank, you should use the Supplemental
Report for Banks. If your institution is a savings association,
you should use the Supplemental Report for Savings
Associations.
And if your institution is a holding company,
you should use the Supplemental Report for Bank Holding
Companies or the Supplemental Report for Savings and
Loan Holding Companies, as applicable. Treasury will post
these forms at http://www.treasury.gov/resourcecenter/sb-programs/Pages/Supplemental-ReportingRequirements.aspx as they become available.
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. CHAPTER FOUR: AFTER YOUR BANK
RECEIVES FUNDING
The Small Business Lending Fund is intended to provide
institutions with incentives to responsibly increase their
small business lending. While the Small Business Lending
Fund was designed to minimize the costs associated with
participation, institutions must comply with certain
requirements. The requirements are:
• Continuation of dividend payments and share
repurchases
• Downstreaming of SBLF funding
• Reporting and certification requirements
• Repayment of SBLF funding
• How small businesses can know which banks are
participating in the Small Business Lending Fund
Continuation of dividend payments and share repurchases
Subject to any existing regulatory reviews and limitations,
accepting SBLF funding should not affect your institution’s
ability to pay dividends to other shareholders or to
repurchase shares. There are, however, certain limited
restrictions, which are tailored to be consistent with normal
dividend and share repurchase plans – permitting even
dividend/earnings ratios in excess of 100%.
In general, your bank can make a dividend payment or
share repurchase provided that, after the payment or
repurchase, the institution’s Tier 1 capital would be at least
90% of the amount existing at the time immediately after
the closing date, excluding any subsequent net charge-offs
and partial repayments of the SBLF funding.
After two years, and until the tenth anniversary of the
investment date, the 90% limitation decreases by a dollar
amount equal to 10% of the SBLF funding for every 1%
increase in Qualified Small Business Lending your bank has
achieved over its baseline level.
These restrictions will no
longer apply after an institution has repaid its SBLF funding
in full.
Failure to pay dividends on your SBLF funding carries
consequences. On such an occasion, the senior
management of your institution must provide Treasury with
written notice as to why your bank’s board of directors did
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not declare dividends. And, your institution may not
repurchase shares or pay dividends on shares that are pari
passu or junior to the SBLF shares during the quarter of
nonpayment and for the following three quarters.
If your institution does not pay SBLF dividends for four
quarters, and during such time it was not subject to a
regulatory determination that prohibits the declaration and
payment of dividends, then your institution’s board of
directors must certify to Treasury, in writing, that your
institution used its best efforts to declare and pay such
quarterly dividends in a manner consistent with safe and
sound banking practices and the directors’ fiduciary
obligation.
If your institution fails to pay its SBLF dividends for five
quarters, Treasury will have the right, but not the
obligation, to appoint an observer to its board of directors.
This right expires when full dividends have been paid for
four consecutive dividend periods.
After six missed payments, if the amount of your
institution’s SBLF funding totals $25 million or more,
Treasury will have the right, but not the obligation, to elect
two directors to its board.
The right to elect directors
expires once full dividends have been paid for four
consecutive quarters.
For privately held banks, paying dividends on shares ranking
pari passu or junior to SBLF shares also is prohibited from
the tenth anniversary of the investment date onward.
Treasury expects any outstanding SBLF funding to be repaid
before that time.
Downstreaming of SBLF funding
The dividend rate on SBLF funding is determined based on
the quantity of Qualified Small Business Lending reported
by insured depository institutions. When SBLF funding is
provided to a holding company, the holding company must
contribute at least 90% of the amount to its insured
depository institution subsidiaries that originate small
business loans. Funding must be downstreamed to insured
depository institution subsidiaries immediately following
receipt of the SBLF funding.
If the holding company owns more than one insured
depository institution, no insured depository institution
may receive more than 5% of its risk-weighted assets, if the
holding company has total assets of $1 billion or less, or 3%
of its risk-weighted assets, if the holding company has total
assets of more than $1 billion and less than $10 billion.
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For institutions that refinance capital investments from CPP
or CDCI through SBLF, the requirement to downstream not
less than 90% of Treasury’s investment will only apply to
incremental capital received from SBLF, not capital that is
refinanced from CPP or CDCI.
Reporting and certification requirements
As explained in Chapter Three, if your institution
participates in the Small Business Lending Fund, it will need
to submit an Initial Supplemental Report and Quarterly
Supplemental Reports, which will determine the dividend
rates for the SBLF funding. In addition, your institution will
be required to complete a short annual lending survey and
provide certain annual certifications to Treasury, as required
by the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010.
Each Supplemental Report must be certified as accurate by
your Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Financial
2
Officer (CFO) . The same members of your board of
directors that sign your institution’s Call Report must also
sign the Supplemental Report. The process is very similar to
the Call Report certification process, except that, in this
case, the CEO must also certify the report.
Repayment of SBLF funding
As outlined in Chapter One, with the approval of its
regulator, your institution can repay its SBLF funding at any
time.
All redemptions will be at 100% of liquidation value,
plus accrued and unpaid dividends for the current dividend
period, regardless of whether dividends have been
declared. Your bank can also repay in part, provided the
part is equal to at least 25% of the original SBLF funding.
How small businesses can know which banks are
participating in the Small Business Lending Fund
Information about the Small Business Lending Fund is
available on this website, www.treasury.gov/SBLF. At least
once per month, Treasury will publish the list of banks
participating in the Small Business Lending Fund on this
website, www.treasury.gov/SBLF.
2
If the institution is a savings association, the CFO’s signature is replaced
with an authorized officer of the savings association who signs the Thrift
Financial Report.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION
To learn more about the Small Business Lending Fund, visit
www.treasury.gov/SBLF.
For general inquiries and questions, please call the Small
Business Lending Fund information line at 888-832-1147
(Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM-7:00 PM ET).
For communications pertaining to a specific institution,
please email SBLFInstitutions@treasury.gov, a Treasury
email address.
For media inquiries, please call the U.S. Department of the
Treasury Press Office at 202-622-2960.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury provides this Getting
Started Guide for the Small Business Lending Fund (SBLF),
the SBLF information line, and other SBLF resources for
informational purposes. Although efforts have been made
to ensure the accuracy of the information provided, the
information is subject to change or correction.
Any SBLF
funding provided to an institution will be subject to the
terms and conditions of the definitive agreements entered
into by Treasury and the respective institution.
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