On December 15, 2022, the federal bank regulatory agencies, as members of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), released the 2021 Small Business, Small Farm, and Community Development Lending Data. The analysis was conducted using data compiled for banks, savings and loan associations, and savings banks reporting under the CRA regulations.
For 2021, a total of 685 lenders reported data about originations and purchases of small loans (loans with original amounts of $1 million or less) to businesses and farms. Of these, 106 had assets below the mandatory reporting threshold and reported either voluntarily or because they elected to be evaluated as a “large” institution during CRA examinations. The analysis include the following findings:
About 9.4 million small business loans (originations and purchases) totaling nearly $371 billion were reported in 2021.
About 47.1% of the number of reported small business loan originations and 59.3% of the number of reported small farm loan originations were extended to firms with revenues of $1 million or less.
Overall, the distribution of the number and the dollar amounts of small business loans across the four relative income categories (low-, moderate-, middle-, and upper-income) largely parallels the distribution of population and businesses across these four income groups, although lending activity in upper-income areas exceeds the share of businesses and population in such areas
618 of the 685 institutions reporting for 2021 reported community development lending activity.
The federal bank regulatory agencies’ joint press release can be found here.