2014 SBA 7(a) Lending Stats
The SBA recently released FY14 lending statistics. As always it’s interesting to see which banks are most active – and what the “sweet spot” is for loan sizes.
Top 10 Lenders by Total Loan Amounts
Wells Fargo continues to be the largest SBA 7(a) lender, generating over 2x the amount of loans than the next nearest lender. Well’s alone accounted for 10.7% of 7(a) loan volume out of the Top 100 Lenders. Also interesting is just how dominant the top lenders are- the top 10 accounts for 38% of 7(a) loan volume.
| Lender | Number of Loans | Total Loans | Average Size | % Total |
| Wells Fargo Bank | 2,781 | $801,774,095 | $288,304 | 10.7% |
| Live Oak Banking Company | 463 | $387,196,250 | $836,277 | 5.2% |
| U.S. Bank National Association | 2,326 | $288,445,290 | $124,009 | 3.9% |
| The Huntington National Bank | 3,021 | $264,885,000 | $87,681 | 3.5% |
| JPMorgan Chase Bank, National | 2,540 | $249,692,480 | $98,304 | 3.3% |
| CDC Small Business Finance Corporation | 271 | $210,118,725 | $775,346 | 2.8% |
| Ridgestone Bank | 232 | $169,254,575 | $729,546 | 2.3% |
| Noah Bank | 225 | $165,883,485 | $737,260 | 2.2% |
| Celtic Bank Corporation | 595 | $147,124,521 | $247,268 | 2.0% |
| Newtek Small Business Finance, | 181 | $135,340,490 | $747,738 | 1.8% |
Top 10 Lenders by Total Loan Counts
Sometimes the raw dollar volumes in these statistics obscure other facts. For instance, while Well’s is far and away the biggest lender, it accomplishes this with relatively small loans (the same goes for Huntington and JPMorgan). The average loan size last year was approximately $750k. Compare this to Well’s average size of $288k and JPMorgans of $98k. That’s a lot of small loans.
Looking at it another way, which lenders do the most loan volume by transaction counts (i.e. number of loans)? Certainly see a trend there, right?
| Lender | Number of Loans | Total Loans | Average Size | % Total |
| The Huntington National Bank | 3,021 | $264,885,000 | $87,681 | 3.5% |
| Wells Fargo Bank | 2,781 | $801,774,095 | $288,304 | 10.7% |
| JPMorgan Chase Bank, National | 2,540 | $249,692,480 | $98,304 | 3.3% |
| U.S. Bank National Association | 2,326 | $288,445,290 | $124,009 | 3.9% |
| Compass Bank | 1,100 | $94,761,580 | $86,147 | 1.3% |
| Manufacturers and Traders Trust | 889 | $80,047,345 | $90,042 | 1.1% |
| Celtic Bank Corporation | 595 | $147,124,521 | $247,268 | 2.0% |
| TD Bank, National Association | 528 | $81,480,900 | $154,320 | 1.1% |
| Live Oak Banking Company | 463 | $387,196,250 | $836,277 | 5.2% |
| CDC Small Business Finance Corporation | 271 | $210,118,725 | $775,346 | 2.8% |
Largest Average Loan Sizes
Finally let’s take a look at who’s doing the biggest loans. This is super helpful when you are trying to understand what lender might be a good fit for your particular circumstances. This is super interesting – most lenders in the Top 100 are pretty tightly clustered, averaging between $600 and 800k. While the 7(a) program has a $5 million ceiling, only 7 lenders average loans larger than $1 million. And look at the transaction counts for each below – none are particularly large in terms of the number of 7(a) loans they are putting out.
| Lender | Number of Loans | Total Loans | Average Size | % Total |
| Los Angeles County Small Business | 36 | $58,053,000 | $1,612,583 | 0.8% |
| First Western SBLC, Inc | 19 | $25,702,125 | $1,352,743 | 0.3% |
| Denver Urban Economic Development Corporation | 19 | $25,190,000 | $1,325,789 | 0.3% |
| Parke Bank | 25 | $31,186,500 | $1,247,460 | 0.4% |
| New Jersey Business Finance Corporation | 29 | $35,061,000 | $1,209,000 | 0.5% |
| CertusBank, National Association | 81 | $90,893,685 | $1,122,144 | 1.2% |
| North Texas Certified Development | 37 | $41,274,000 | $1,115,514 | 0.6% |
| United Midwest Savings Bank | 38 | $38,319,600 | $1,008,411 | 0.5% |
| Mortgage Capital Development Corporation | 132 | $128,250,000 | $971,591 | 1.7% |
| First Community Bank | 51 | $47,801,950 | $937,293 | 0.6% |
SBA Loans and Business Valuations
Bear in mind that by statute, any 7(a) loan that exceeds $250,000 in goodwill (aka “blue sky”) requires a certified, 3rd party valuation. Give us a call and we’ll be happy to discuss your 7(a) business valuation requirements.
Dan Doran
Dan is the Founder of Quantive and Value Scout. He has two decades of experience in leading M&A transactions. Additionally oversees Quantive's valuation practice and has performed thousands of business valuations.